Russia says downed Ukrainian drones over four regions

Ukraine said on November 25, 2023 it had downed 71 Russian attack drones overnight in what Kyiv authorities said was the biggest attack on the capital since the start of the invasion. (AFP Photo)

Russia said Sunday it had downed Ukrainian drones over four regions, including Moscow, as well as two Ukrainian missiles over the Azov Sea headed for Russia.

Moscow said the drone attacks hit border regions and regions close to Moscow, the day after Kyiv reported what it called the largest drone attack on Ukraine since Moscow launched its offensive in February last year.

"Air defence destroyed four Ukranian drones over the territory of the Bryansk, Smolensk and Tula regions," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Sunday, Russia also reported some drones were shot down over the Moscow region.

The Russian army said it had also downed two Ukrainian missiles headed for Russia over the Azov Sea, between the two countries.

"Russian air defence located and destroyed two Ukrainian missiles in the air over the water area of the Azov Sea," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said its air defence had downed eight out of nine drones over the country on Sunday.

On Saturday, Ukraine said Moscow had launched 75 drones onto the country, mostly aimed at Kyiv.

The attack came as Kyiv marked Holodomor, the Stalin-era starvation that killed millions in Ukraine.

Ukraine has hit Russian regions and annexed Crimea with drones for months, launching a counter-offensive this summer to push back Russian forces.

Sunday's attacks on Russia came as Ukraine also marks a decade since the Maidan pro-EU revolution, which put the neighbours at loggerheads.

Shortly after Ukrainians overthrew a Moscow-backed regime in 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russia continues to see the Maidan revolution as illegitimate and when it launched its full-scale offensive in February last year, it aimed to install a different government in Ukraine.

"In Kyiv ten years ago there was a coup with the use of force, the legitimate authorities were overthrown," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.