Russia says it shot down 419 Ukrainian drones

MOSCOW: Russia shot down 419 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, the defence ministry said today.

Kyiv has stepped up its long-range drone strike campaign against Russia in recent months, particularly against energy infrastructure to target a vital source of the Kremlin’s revenue to fund its war effort, now in its fifth year.

Air defence systems “intercepted and destroyed 419 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles” around the country, the defence ministry posted on the state-run Max platform.

It did not say if there were any deaths or injuries.

Moscow’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin said earlier that air defence forces had shot down 50 “enemy drones” overnight headed for the capital.

The swarm came days after Russia shot down 660 Ukrainian drones between Thursday and Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.

A Ukrainian attack also caused a fire last week at a refinery in the southeast of Moscow.