MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Air defense forces shot down 17 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the airspace over the Russian Republic of Crimea and in the airspace over the Black Sea on Friday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"From 8:00 a.m. and until 1:00 p.m. Moscow time [from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. GMT] on December 26, alert air defense forces destroyed 17 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles: 16 UAVs over the Republic of Crimea and one UAV in the airspace over the Black Sea," the ministry said in a statement.