Russians plunge into darkness after monster drone attack

Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on military and energy facilities in Russia and on the occupied Crimean peninsula overnight. Moscow said on Friday that more than 100 unmanned weapons were involved in the operation.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted and destroyed 102 drones in four different regions, while six more drone boats were taken out in the Black Sea. While the ministry did not provide information on the extent of the damage caused by the attack, several explosions were reported in the Russian city of Novorossiysk, and the Kremlin-backed governor of Sevastopol said an electrical substation had been damaged and power cuts.

Russia suffers one of the deadliest attacks of the war

A source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Kyiv Independent that the attack was a joint operation of the SBU and Ukrainian military intelligence. “Today’s operation proved that the Russians are unable to protect their key naval bases in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk,” the source said.

Residents of Novorossiysk in Russia’s Krasnodar region said local oil infrastructure had been attacked and shared videos online in which explosions can be heard and air defense systems can be seen operating. Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said 10 drones were shot down, causing “local fires” but, according to preliminary information, there were no casualties. “I ask the residents of Novorossiysk to remain calm and not to post photos and videos of the operation of our air defense systems on social networks,” he wrote on Telegram.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol, also claimed that debris from “downed drones” fell on the substation, causing a partial blackout. Early Friday, he said the blackouts would last “about a day” while workers restore the power grid. He later announced that classes would be cancelled in “all schools, secondary vocational education institutions and kindergartens” and said the city would take measures to save energy during repairs, including suspending trolleybus services and turning off lights in the city and shopping centers.

Ukraine has been attacking infrastructure and military targets on Russian soil for several months. Kyiv is also currently grappling with a new major Russian offensive that began earlier this month in northeastern Ukraine, raising fears that Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest city – could soon fall.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters during a visit to China that his attacks on the Kharkiv region were a response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region. “I have stated publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “We are doing that.”

Putin also said that there are currently no plans to take the city of Kharkiv.

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