MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Russia’s air defenses intercepted and destroyed over 30 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over several Russian regions, the Defense Ministry reported.
In addition, Russian air defense systems intercepted eight rockets and a Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile over the Belgorod Region, it said.
The massive Ukrainian drone attack caused fire at facilities in the Nizhny Novgorod and Oryol regions, while in Belgorod a drone crashed into the building of the city administration. According to the latest updates, eight people were injured.
TASS has gathered key facts about the attack.
Geography of attacks
- Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that air defenses had intercepted at least 31 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over seven regions of the country. Russian air defense systems intercepted most of all UAVs (16) over the Kursk Region along with eight drones over the Belgorod Region, two drones over the Moscow and Oryol regions each and one drone over each of the Bryansk, Leningrad and Tula regions.
- Regional authorities also reported about Ukrainian drone attacks in the Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod regions. In particular, air defenses shot down UAVs over Voronezh and Taganrog.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that air defense systems had intercepted eight rockets of the Czech-made Vampire multiple launch rocket system and a Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile over the Belgorod Region. Based on available data, the Ukrainian military had launched a Tochka-U ballistic missile for the first time since January.
- In addition, Ukrainian UAVs targeted districts in the Belgorod Region.
- The air raid alert lasted several hours in various Russian regions. The missile danger in the Kursk Region was declared at around 1:25 a.m. Moscow time (10:25 p.m. GMT on March 11) and air defenses were still at work close to 7:30 a.m. Moscow time (4:30 GMT). In the Voronezh Region, authorities reported the destruction of the drone around 5:10 a.m. Moscow time (2:10 a.m. GMT), and after 2:10 p.m. Moscow time (11:10 a.m. GMT), the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said the danger was still in place.
Consequences
- As the latest data suggest, no one was hurt in most of the cases in the massive Ukrainian drone attack. At least seven people were injured in the Belgorod Region - two in Belgorod, three in Shebekeno and two more people were injured in the settlement of Golovino. One person was wounded in the township of Tyotkino in the Kursk Region.
- The Ukrainian drone attack in the Oryol Region set an oil tank ablaze, with the fire engulfing an area of 100 sq. m. Seventeen civilians were evacuated from two nearby apartment buildings.
- An oil refining installation caught fire in the town of Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Governor Gleb Nikitin said. The fire was put out several hours later.
- In the Belgorod Region, power outages occurred in seven communities of the Belgorodsky district and five communities in the Graivoronsky district as a result of the Ukrainian drone attacks that also damaged buildings in the Borisovsky district and Shebekino. A power transmission line was damaged in the settlement of Novaya Tavolzhanka as a result of the UAV attack.
- In the afternoon of March 12, a drone crashed into the Belgorod administration building, busting windows and damaging the facade. Prior to that, another drone hit the wall of a store, damaging it as well as four cars.
- Restrictions were introduced at the airports of Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod due to the Ukrainian drone attacks. One flight bound for Strigino Airport in Nizhny Novgorod headed for an alternate airfield.
Attempted breakthrough by saboteurs
- In the afternoon of March 12, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Defense Ministry reported unsuccessful attempts by Ukrainian forces to break into the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
- The Defense Ministry said that Kiev had lost up to 60 people, five tanks and an armored personnel carrier in the Belgorod Region alone. The ministry did not provide data on the Kursk Region.
- According to the FSB, since March 10, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 100 people, six tanks, a CAESAR self-propelled artillery system, as well as 20 armored combat vehicles and a stronghold while trying to cross the border.
Previous attack
- This has been the second massive attack by Ukrainian UAVs on Russian regions over the past few days. In particular, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on the morning of March 9 that air defenses had intercepted 47 Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod Region (1), the Kursk Region (2), the Volgograd Region (3) and the Rostov Region (41). The attack had no serious consequences.