Russian air defences have intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major night-time attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russia-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.
It appeared to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
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.
The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Russia's efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X that he had ordered “a 40-day influence operation”, believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at “compelling (Russia) to end the war” after US peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.
In the Tula region just south of Moscow, a private house was damaged by the attack and a woman was wounded, Tula governor Dmitry Milyaev said in an online statement on Friday as reports of damage caused by the attack began to emerge.
He also said a power line was damaged and an unspecified industrial facility in the city of Novomoskovsk.
Russian independent online outlet Astra reported that a chemical plant and a hydroelectric plant in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the report, and there was no official confirmation.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported that 47 Ukrainian drones were downed as they flew towards the Russian capital.
He did not report any casualties or damage.
Two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv region in the previous 24 hours, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Friday.
Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements across the region using guided aerial bombs and drones of various types, Syniehubov said.
Ukraine’s defence forces overnight stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones, the Ukrainian air force said.
However, four of seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles that were fired got through air defences and struck various locations, it said.
