LUGANSK, October 14. /TASS/. The drone strike carried out by the Ukrainian armed forces at the beginning of last week was one of the largest in the past six months, with 251 enemy UAVs shot down across 16 Russian regions, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large, told TASS.

"One of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the past six months was recorded at the start of [last] week. A total of 251 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over 16 Russian regions. The majority of the UAVs were neutralized over the Black Sea and Crimea — 62 and 40 respectively. Strikes continued later in the week. The Ukrainian armed forces employed both FPV drones and projectiles to target energy facilities in the Belgorod and Bryansk regions. Their attacks notably involved US-made HIMARS rockets," he specified.

Miroshnik added that most of the previous week’s enemy drone operations had targeted civilian infrastructure, energy sites, residential buildings, supermarkets, civilian cars, and passenger vehicles. "International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilian infrastructure, especially facilities whose damage carries the risk of radioactive contamination. In violation of nuclear safety rules, Ukrainian militants conducted strikes on two nuclear power plants. First, they targeted the fire department at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which has been disconnected from the grid due to Ukrainian attacks for over a week. In the early hours of October 7, a Ukrainian attack drone collided with the cooling tower of the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant’s power unit no. 6. Fortunately, there was no major damage, but the fact remains that a radiation-hazardous facility came under attack," the diplomat emphasized.

He added that the Ukrainian military had also targeted civilian facilities inside Russia. In particular, fixed-wing drones attacked civilian targets in the Voronezh, Kaluga, Ivanovo, Oryol, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk, and Tyumen regions.