The Russian military intercepted 47 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday morning. No fatalities were caused, according to local officials.
The ministry said one UAV was shot down over Belgorod Region, two over Kursk Region, three over Volgograd Region, and 41 over Rostov Region.
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Vassily Golubev, governor of Rostov Region, wrote on Telegram that local air defense units had repelled a large-scale assault. Several UAVs were destroyed while approaching the city of Morozovsk. He added that there were no deaths resulting from a bombardment of the city of Taganrog, according to preliminary reports. One Emergencies Ministry employee who was clearing debris on the ground was injured and hospitalized, but his life is not in danger.
The governor of Kursk Region, Roman Starovoyt, used social media to report that debris from a downed Ukrainian drone had damaged the roof of a hospital in the main city of the province, Kursk. No casualties were reported. Starovoyt said that due to an explosion risk, patients from the intensive care unit of a neighboring building were evacuated to other medical institutions in the city.
Voronezh Region Governor Aleksander Gusev has also confirmed that three UAVs were destroyed over his region, with no casualties reported so far. He said the threat of further attacks remains.
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All of the regions, except for Volgograd, border Ukraine and have regularly been targeted by Kiev’s forces.
On Thursday the Defense Ministry reported that the Russian military had thwarted an attack by six Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, including in the Tula Region. It is located deeper inside Russia, some 200km from the Ukrainian border and adjacent to Moscow Region, which surrounds the Russian capital.
On Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone hit a fuel depot in Kursk Region some 100km from the border, causing a fire, the governor reported. Another crashed into a fuel and lubricant storage facility used by an ore refinery.