Russia downs 77 Ukrainian drones overnight

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on August 27, 2024 shows rescuers in action on a site of a heavily damaged hotel following an air attack in Kryvyi Rig. – Ukraine said on August 27, 2024, that its air defence systems had downed five missiles and 60 attack drones in a second night of Russian aerial bombardments that killed four. The overnight attacks came one day after the Kremlin launched one of its largest-ever aerial attacks on Ukraine that battered energy facilities and left several dead. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Russia downed 77 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry said Thursday, two days after Kyiv carried out its largest direct strike on Moscow during the three-year war.

Thirty drones were intercepted and destroyed over the western Bryansk region bordering Ukraine while 25 more were downed over Kaluga, the ministry said in a statement.

More drones were intercepted over the regions of Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, it added.

The latest barrage comes after Russia downed more than 90 drones in the capital region on Tuesday. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the “most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow”.

Russia said three people died and several more were injured in Tuesday’s attack, which saw it intercept 337 Ukrainian drones across the country.

Multiple Ukrainian cities were also under attack Thursday morning, with a 42-year-old woman killed in Kherson, according to regional military administration head Roman Mrochko.

Authorities in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk also reported coming under attack early Thursday.