MOSCOW – Moscow said Sunday it thwarted a “massive” drone attack on western Russia and another targeting the capital.
“Our defenders are repelling an attempted massive UAV attack on the territory of the Bryansk region” bordering Ukraine, regional governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said.
At least 26 drones were “identified and destroyed” by the Russian military, without causing any casualties or damage, Bogomaz said on Telegram.
The regional governor said on August 21 the military had foiled an attempt by a Ukrainian “reconnaissance-sabotage group” to cross into Bryansk.
Russia’s neighboring Kursk has been hit by a Ukrainian offensive since August 6.
Overnight into Sunday, five drones launched towards the capital were neutralised by Russian forces, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
The incursion came more than a week after Sobyanin described “one of the largest ever” drone attacks against Moscow, with authorities saying 11 aircraft were destroyed.
Russian forces also shot down drones overnight above the border regions of Belgorod and Voronezh, as well as in Lipetsk and Ryazan regions farther from Ukraine, without local officials providing precise numbers.
“The glass of three residential buildings in Belgorod is damaged. In one private residence, a utility building was completely destroyed,” said Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
In the western Oryol region, governor Andrey Klychkov said one drone was intercepted.
On Wednesday Ukrainian drones struck two fuel depots, setting them ablaze in southwest Russia’s Rostov region and the northern Kirov region.
Meanwhile, hastily evacuated from their home in Russia’s Kursk region in the face of Ukraine’s offensive, Galina Tolmacheva and her husband Andrei endlessly checked their phone for news.
“We don’t really know where to go,” said Galina, a 50-year-old postwoman.
She told AFP that she and her husband had waited until “the last moment” to flee their house on August 19, along with their three children, aged 9, 13 and 30.
“There wasn’t anyone left in the village any more,” said Galina, who lived in Alexandrovka, a small settlement about 25 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian armed forces launched a large-scale surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk region on Aug. 6, with Kyiv saying its goal is to create a “buffer zone” to protect civilians living near the border, as well as put pressure on Moscow to agree to “fair talks”.
Ukraine claims to have taken control of 100 settlements in nearly one month, pushing 130,000 Russian civilians to evacuate.
The Tolmachev family waited to leave until “shells were falling right under the porch and in the vegetable patch, too,” said Galina.
At that point, they had to leave “everything” as they were forced to evacuate by the Russian army.
Like many locals, they owned chickens, goats and rabbits.
“We set free all our livestock. We left the tractor, the car, our vegetable patch. Basically everything got left behind. We fled in just what we stood up in,” said Galina.
Her mother was also evacuated, but she was already in poor health and died shortly afterwards.
