(Reuters) – Russia’s air defence forces destroyed 42 Ukraine-launched drones over the Crimean Peninsula and one missile over the Kaluga region early on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said.
The ministry said nine drones were destroyed by air defence forces while 33 were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed over Crimea without reaching their targets. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on the Telegram messaging app that a number of drones was destroyed over the Khersones promontory, on Sevastopol’s outskirts.
Earlier, the defence ministry said it had shot down a Ukraine-launched missile over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attacks, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Russian airports suspended flights for a few hours.
The number of drones launched was one the largest in a surge of similar attacks.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia’s military infrastructure helps Kyiv’s counteroffensive.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Warsaw; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Miral Fahmy)
