UPDATE - Russia claims downing nearly 300 Ukrainian drones in overnight attacks

UPDATES WITH FURTHER DETAILS ON OVERNIGHT ATTACKS & ATTACKS IN UKRAINE

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia claimed on Thursday that it shot down nearly 300 Ukrainian drones in an overnight attack, which resulted in hundreds of flights being either cancelled, delayed, or diverted from airports in Moscow.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement on Telegram that the country’s air defenses shot down 287 Ukrainian drones from 11 pm (2000GMT) on Wednesday to 7 am (0400GMT) Thursday morning.

It specified that 118 drones were downed over the border region of Bryansk alone, situated adjacent to Ukraine’s northeastern Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

The statement added that 40 drones were intercepted over the Moscow region, with 32 of them flying toward the Russian capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported the downing of drones heading toward the city throughout the evening, but provided no further details on the attack.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Press Secretary Artem Korenyako declared on Telegram overnight that temporary restrictions were introduced at all Moscow airports and a number of other airports in the country, including in Grozny and Makhachkala.

He later announced in the morning that the restrictions on arrivals and departures imposed were lifted.

Citing information posted on their online flight boards, Russian state news agency Tass reported that airports in Moscow have either cancelled, delayed, or diverted 378 flights during the temporary restrictions.

In a later statement, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Press Secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan said that the premier's plane could not land in Moscow overnight due to the restrictions, and instead headed to St. Petersburg.

"In the morning, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continued his trip (from St. Petersburg) and traveled to Moscow, where he will take part in the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, as well as an international conference on cooperation in the field of science and technology," she wrote on US social media platform Facebook.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia’s claims or the attacks, though the Energy Ministry said that energy facilities in Ukraine's southwestern Odesa and central Poltava regions were attacked overnight.

In Odesa, Governor Oleh Kiper said that an energy facility in the region was damaged, while acting Poltava Governor Volodymyr Kohut reported fires at an unspecified number of energy facilities in the region's Kremenchuk district.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Air Force claimed that the country's air defenses shot down 83 out of 151 various types of drones, as well as two out of three Iskander-M missiles, launched by Russia overnight.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure in recent months.