Russia, Ukraine carry out drone strikes in each other's cities

By Aliia Raimbekova

MOSCOW (AA) – The Russian and Ukrainian governments on Wednesday made conflicting claims about drone attacks on each other's cities.

Moscow claimed that overnight attacks on the airport in the Pskov region damaged four planes, two of which were burned, while Kyiv claimed that the Russian intense attack killed two civilians and injured another.

Pskov Governor Mikhail Vedernikov and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin both stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Ukraine drone attack on Pskov airport is being investigated. However, there were no casualties in the overnight strike, they added.

According to Russia's Tass news agency, emergency services confirmed that four Il-76-type aircraft were damaged and two were burned.

In a separate statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said three Ukrainian drones were shot down by air defense systems at 2 a.m. local time (2300GMT Monday) in the Bryansk, Oryol, and Kaluga regions.

It also stated that the air defense systems prevented Kyiv's attack via unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at about 2.00 a.m. (2300GMT Monday) in the Ryazan region, another at 3.30 a.m. (0030GMT) in Moscow's Ruzskiy district, and another at 4.00 a.m. (0100GMT) in the Ryazan region.

Another statement from the ministry claimed that Russian Black Sea Fleet naval aviation aircraft destroyed four Ukrainian fast military boats carrying 50 special operations soldiers.

Meanwhile, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Sergey Popko, stated on X that Russia launched an intense airstrike overnight. "Kyiv has not seen such a powerful attack since the spring. The enemy carried out a massive attack using UAVs and missiles," he added.

According to him, Ukrainian forces responded by destroying Russian drones. However, two people were killed and another was injured as a result of UAV and missile fragments falling into non-residential buildings and starting fires, which the crews extinguished.

*Writing by Merve Berker