More than 100 drones launched over Russia

Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev Sputnik via Agence France Presse Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Russian government via teleconference in Moscow, March 10, 2022.

Associated Press in kyiv

Published at 9:34

• Europe

Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones over Russia's western regions on Sunday, Moscow officials said, while 17 people were injured in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in a ballistic missile attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 drones were destroyed overnight in seven Russian regions. Many of them targeted the Russian border region of Kursk, where 43 drones were reportedly shot down.

Images posted on social media appear to show air defenses at work over the town of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, near a factory producing explosives.

Local governor Gleb Nikitin said on social media Sunday that four fighters were injured while repelling a drone attack over the Dzerzhinsk industrial zone, but he gave no further details.

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Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Telegram that it had targeted the state-owned Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, which it said made chemical components for artillery ammunition and aerial bombs. It also said that a drone had started a fire at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region. The Associated Press, however, could not independently verify the reports.

Such large-scale airstrikes are still relatively rare in Russia, two and a half years after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

In a similar attack in late September, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of 125 drones in seven regions.

Separately, 17 people were injured in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, after the city was struck by two Russian ballistic missiles, officials said Sunday.

The attack Saturday night damaged homes and businesses, according to local government chief Oleksandr Vilkul.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 49 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles overnight. Thirty-one drones were shot down over 12 regions, including the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, while 13 others disappeared from radar, suggesting they were neutralized by electronic defenses.

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched some 800 guided aerial bombs and more than 500 attack drones over Ukraine over the week.

“Every day, Russia strikes our cities and communities. This is deliberate terror by the enemy against our people,” he said, renewing calls for continued air support from the country’s allies.

“United in defense, the countries of the world can oppose this targeted terror,” he added.