Russian air defense systems have intercepted dozens of Ukrainian drones and U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles overnight and early Wednesday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
The attacks caused temporary airport closures in the central republic of Tatarstan, as well as explosions at a fuel depot in the southern city of Rostov, where the military headquarters overseeing Moscow’s invasion is based.
“Over the past night, a number of attempts by the Kyiv regime to launch terrorist attacks... against facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation were foiled,” the Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
It claimed to have intercepted or destroyed 10 U.S.-made ATACMS missiles over annexed Crimea and 17 drones over the western regions of Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol, said there were no injuries from the rocket debris that he claimed fell on a residential area.
Rostov region Governor Vasily Golubev wrote that two drones caused explosions at a fuel depot in the regional capital. No one was reported injured in that attack.
Later on Wednesday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed a Ukrainian drone over the republic of Tatarstan, which lies some 1,100 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Air traffic to and from airports in Kazan, the regional capital, and the city of Nizhnekamsk was temporarily suspended to due the threat of an attack, Russian media reported, citing federal aviation authorities.
“All services in Tatarstan are on high alert in case of threats,” the regional government said, adding that Wednesday’s “combat readiness check was successful.”
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