Russia has claimed that its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 456 Ukrainian drones during overnight attacks across several regions of the country.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that the large-scale attacks targeted about 15 Russian regions, as well as Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“Over the past night, air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 456 Ukrainian aerial drones,” the ministry said, describing the attacks as one of the largest reported overnight drone assaults since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The attacks occurred as diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war continue to make little progress, with both countries intensifying long-range strikes against targets far from the main battlefront.
In Russia’s Tatarstan region, authorities reported what they described as “massive” drone attacks on Nizhnekamsk, an industrial city located about 1,600 kilometres from Ukraine.
The regional authorities said the attack was still ongoing at about 5:30am GMT and targeted both industrial and civilian facilities.
“The attack is being carried out against both industrial and civilian sites. Unfortunately, there are fatalities,” the authorities said.
In the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local officials reported that a woman was killed after a drone struck a house in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.
The latest attacks highlight the growing scale of drone warfare in the conflict, with Russia and Ukraine increasingly using long-range drones to target military, energy and industrial infrastructure.
However, the claims by Russian authorities could not be independently verified, while Ukraine had not claimed responsibility for the reported attacks at the time of the report.
With peace negotiations showing little progress, the continued exchange of long-range attacks indicates that the conflict is increasingly extending beyond the immediate battlefield, with civilian communities on both sides continuing to face the consequences.
