Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed on Wednesday that its air defences downed 389 Ukrainian drones across 13 Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.
This marked the largest reported overnight attack on Russian territory since the invasion began over four years ago, highlighting Ukraine’s growing long-range drone capability.
The extensive assault came a day after Russia fired almost 1,000 drones and 34 missiles at Ukrainian civilian areas, extending its usual nighttime barrage into daylight in one of the war’s biggest aerial attacks.
Ukrainian authorities said at least six people were killed and around 50 injured.
In the Leningrad region, north of Moscow, Governor Alexander Drozdenko reported 56 drones intercepted, with a fire erupting at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga from the Ukrainian attack.
Separately, Ukrainian forces also conducted a missile strike on the border region of Belgorod overnight, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, damaging energy infrastructure and disrupting power, water, and heating supplies.
The Ukrainian drone blitz caught public attention in the Baltic states, which lie northwest of Ukraine and relatively close to potential Russian targets in the St. Petersburg region, where drones came down.
Officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which have been close allies of Ukraine in the war, said the drones likely didn’t target them.
Estonian media reported that a drone coming from Russia clipped a power plant’s chimney early Wednesday but said electricity production was not disrupted. The plant is around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the port of Ust-Luga that Ukraine targeted.
Also Wednesday, the Latvian defense ministry said a drone had crashed in a region close to Russia. No injuries or damage were reported.
Lithuanian officials said a stray Ukrainian drone crashed into a frozen lake near the Belarusian border on Monday.
In Moldova, on Ukraine’s southwest border, authorities on Tuesday urged citizens to spare electrical energy during peak hours, after Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid cut a key power line between Moldova and Romania.
