Russia says it downed 42 Ukrainian drones in massive overnight attack
Moscow, Aug 25 (EFE).- Moscow downed 42 drones during a massive overnight attack over the Crimean peninsula, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday.
“Air Defense aids detected forty-two unmanned aerial vehicles. As a result of the fire effect over the territory of the Republic of Crimea, nine drones were detected and 33 drones were suppressed by radio electronic warfare aids and crashed without reaching the target,” the ministry said in a statement, according to Tass news agency.
While Ukraine has conducted frequent attacks on Russia, including the capital Moscow, last night’s operation was the largest in terms of the number of devices that were deployed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that anti-aircraft artillery shot down an S-200 missile over the Kaluga region, some 120 kilometers southwest of Moscow.
“At 00:30 a.m. today, air defense forces were at work in the Maloyaroslavetsky and Zhukovsky districts,” Regional Governor Vladislav Shapsha wrote on Telegram.
“There are no injuries or infrastructure damage,” he added.
S-200s are anti-aircraft missiles with a range of up to 400 kilometers that can be modified to hit targets on the ground.
Russia launched two missiles over the Black Sea aiming at one of Ukraine’s ports on Thursday night, regional leader Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.
“A few hours later, a second attack took place. This time, the enemy sent 2 Kalibr missiles from the Sea of Azov towards the regional center. Again, the air defense forces did an excellent job: both missiles were destroyed,” Kiper said.
The attacks come days after the private plane Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was flying on crashed en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Wednesday night, killing all 10 people on board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the causes of a plane crash that killed the Wagner Group chief would be investigated.
Putin, who met with the Wagner chief at the Kremlin in late June after Prigozhin had led a failed armed uprising, stressed that technical and genetic tests to identify the victims were being carried out.
While Prigozhin’s body has not yet been identified, Russian aviation authorities confirmed that he was on the passenger list.
According to Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border agency, the number of Wagner fighters in Belarus has continued to decrease since the plane crash.EFE
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