Ukraine launches massive drone attack across Russia

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Ukraine says it has struck a Russian oil refinery and a microchip factory in a huge drone attack that caused fires at the refinery’s production facilities and an oil pumping station.

Other drones targeted numerous regions, including 20 in the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow, the Russian defence ministry said. Russian war blogger channels on the Telegram messaging app posted videos of what they described as large blazes in the city. They said an oil storage depot and a power station had been hit.

The Ukrainian army said on Facebook that the fires had exploded in production comforts for the broken refinery and in an oil pumping station, but specified the severity of the damage.

Ukraine’s military said it had also struck the Kremniy El microelectronics plant in Russia‘s Bryansk region, which Kyiv said produced components for Russian air defence missile systems, nuclear-capable missiles, and onboard electronics for combat aircraft.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted 121 drones targeting thirteen regions, adding that six drones were destroyed over the Moscow region and one over the capital itself. The ministry revealed the extent of the pain or casualties.

The overnight moves underscore Ukraine’s ability to succeed in targeting deep inside Russia, as the two sides review their positions before beginning peace talks after Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The US president has said he intends to bring a swift end to nearly three years of war in Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was open to discussions with Trump on the Ukraine war, but that the question of negotiating with Ukraine was complicated by the fact that its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had signed a decree preventing him from conducting talks with Putin.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanine said air defenses had intercepted Ukrainian drone strikes at four points around the Russian capital.

“In the place where the fragments fell there were no injuries or losses,” Sobyanin wrote in Telegram. “Emergency specialized groups are underway”

The Russian news agencies cited Rosaviatsiya, the Federal Aviation Agency, since the two airports of Moscow, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, were driving flights after postponing the operations for a while.

In the Russian border city of Kursk, a region where Ukraine has part of the territory, Mayor Igor Kutsak said the overnight attack broke power lines and cut power to a community in the city.

Commenting on the damage caused by Ukraine’s drone attacks, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, said on Telegram that an oil refinery in Ryazan had been hit as well as the Kremniy plant in Bryansk, which Kyiv says produces microelectronics for Russian weapons systems.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday it had carried out a Russian drone strike and shot down 25 of 58 drones brought through Russia in an overnight assault.

The Interior Ministry said the remains of the drone had killed two men and a woman in the central region of kyiv and that the user had been injured. The attack destroyed a residential construction of several floors, eight user houses, advertising constructions and several user vehicles, regional kyiv officials said.

As the war approaches three years, Russia has stepped up its airstrikes against Ukraine, sending dozens of drones almost nightly.

Ukrainian officials said that the Russian forces introduced more than 7,000 drones in 2024, at least twice more than in 2023. The majority were demolished or redirected through the electronic warfare, but many still achieved their objectives. Moscow denies civilians.

Meanwhile, Russian security official Sergei Shoigu warned in an interview published on Friday that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers was rising.

Shoigu, Putin’s secretary of the Security Council, told the state news agency TASS: “Against the backdrop of expanding conflicts and worsening geopolitical rivalry in the world, the dangers of a violent clash between primary states, with the participation of the participation of the participation of the participation of the participation of of the participation of the participation of the participation of the participation of the world, Mr. . Nuclear powers are developing. “

The former Defense Minister said NATO’s superior activities on its eastern flank, close to Russia and Belarus, and repeated offensive and defensive scenarios.

NATO states that it is Russia that is increasing tensions, specifically when announcing in 2023 that it will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in its best friend Belarus, which has borders with three NATO countries. “Russia’s ‘nuclear umbrella’ now provides coverage to our closest best friend in the same framework scenarios in which Russia allows a nuclear reaction for its own defense,” Shoigu said about Belarus.

Reuters contributed to this report

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