Russia says it thwarted Kyiv drone attack following aerial assault against Ukraine

Thirty-two Ukrainian drones were detected over Russia, Moscow officials reported on Saturday, a day after an 18-hour aerial barrage across Ukraine killed at least 30 civilians.

Drones were seen in the skies over Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement. It did not report any casualties and said that all of the drones had been destroyed by air defenses.

Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula. However, larger aerial strikes against Russia have previously followed heavy assaults on Ukrainian cities.

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Moscow’s forces launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones across Ukraine Friday, an onslaught described by one air force official as the biggest aerial barrage of the war.

At least 144 people were wounded and an unknown number were buried under rubble in the assault, which damaged a maternity hospital, apartment blocks, and schools.

Western officials and analysts recently warned that Russia limited its cruise missile strikes for months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter, hoping to break the Ukrainians’ spirit.

Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) line of contact.

Following the latest Russian assault, shelling continued across eastern and southern Ukraine and in Russia’s border regions. One man was killed by a missile in a private home in Russia’s Belgorod region late Friday evening, regional head Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media.

A further four people were injured, including a 10-year-old child, he said.