MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. Air defense forces shot down 196 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the airspace over various Russian regions within an eight-hour period on early Thursday afternoon, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"From 7:00 a.m. and until 3:00 p.m. Moscow time [from 4:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. GMT] on May 21, alert air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 196 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Pskov, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Tula, Tver and Moscow Regions and over the Caspian Sea," the ministry said in a statement.