Russia says it shot down 150 drones in one of Ukraine’s biggest air offensives

(AP) – Russian anti-aircraft guns intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over Moscow and nine others in the capital region, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.

In the Kursk region, where Ukraine has sent its forces in recent weeks in one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since World War II, 46 drones were destroyed. Another 34 were shot down over the Bryansk region, 28 in the Voronezh region and 14 more in Belgorod – all of these areas bordering Ukraine.

Drones were also shot down in areas further from the border, including two in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, and in the Ivanovo region, northeast of the Russian capital.

Russia’s defence ministry said drones were intercepted in 15 regions, while another governor said an unmanned aircraft was also shot down in his region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris from one of two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at a refinery.

Ukrainian drone strikes have taken the fighting away from the front and into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up its airstrikes on Russian territory, focusing on refineries and oil terminals in an attempt to halt the Kremlin’s offensive.

Also in Russia, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 people were injured in Ukrainian missile airstrikes in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Sunday. Among them eight in the regional capital, also called Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had taken control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.

Russian forces have been advancing into the partially occupied eastern region, the full capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s main ambitions. The Russian military is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for Ukrainian defence in the area.

At least three people were killed and nine wounded in Russian airstrikes on Sunday in the town of Kurakhove, some 33 kilometers (20 miles) south of Pokrovsk, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Also on Sunday, 44 people were injured when Russia attacked the regional capital of Kharkiv, also of the same name, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The city was hit by 10 missiles, damaging a shopping mall, a sports facility and residential buildings.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, eight of 11 drones launched by Russia overnight were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force. One person was killed and four others injured during an offensive in the Sumy region, local authorities said. Five people were also injured in artillery strikes in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.