Russia reports one of biggest Ukrainian drone attacks
The latest strike by Kyiv, with well over 600 drones, led to Russian bosses in the illegally-annexed Crimea declaring an ‘emergency situation’
Russian air defences intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russia-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday.
The authorities in Crimea on Friday declared an “emergency situation” in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing aerial attacks on the illegally annexed peninsula.
“A decision has been made … to sign decrees declaring a regional-level emergency situation in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol,” the Moscow-installed governor Sergey Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.
The latest strikes appeared to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia and Crimea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year was 556 drones, on May 17.
In an effort to turn the tables on Russia’s grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have for months been battering targets, including oil production and energy facilities, behind the front line and deep inside Russia.