87 Ukrainian drones attack Russia in night raid

Ukrainian forces launched more than 80 drones in an attack on Russian regions overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

In a statement on Friday, the Defense Ministry said the drones had attacked the Russian region of Rostov, which borders Ukraine to the southeast.

Since January, Kyiv has been using drones to attack oil refineries and oil centers on Russian soil, including in Rostov. The aim of the campaign is to disrupt gasoline production, which fuels President Vladimir Putin’s war economy.

“During the night, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on targets on Russian territory using drones was thwarted,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It was reported that Russian air defense systems shot down 87 Ukrainian drones, including 70 targeting the Rostov region.

“The air defense forces on duty intercepted and destroyed two drones over the Belgorod region (on the border with Ukraine), two drones targeting the Volgograd region, six drones over the Voronezh region, six drones en route to the Kursk region, and 70 drones over the Rostov region (in southern Russia),” the Defense Ministry said.

The statement added that a drone was shot down over Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is not internationally recognized as Russian territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to retake the Black Sea peninsula, and attacks on the region, targeting air defense systems and the Russian Black Sea Fleet, have increased in intensity as the war has progressed.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, said a “massive” drone strike on the city of Morozovsk caused a fire and disrupted local power supplies, leading to blackouts.

“Several settlements have fallen into the power outage zone,” Golubev said on Telegram.

Ukrainian media reported that the city is home to a Russian military base and that Russian bombers – including Su-24, Su-24M and Su-34 – are stationed there. Ukraine has frequently attacked Russian military bases, claiming they are legitimate targets in the ongoing war.

In the Voronezh region, an unused tank at an oil depot was damaged by falling drone debris, the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said on Telegram.

“There was no fire, there were no casualties or other destruction of infrastructure,” he added.

Russia also launched an attack on Ukraine overnight, using 14 missiles and 17 kamikaze drones, according to Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, who posted about the attack on Telegram. He said Ukraine shot down seven cruise missiles and 17 kamikaze drones.

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