Russia says destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones

MOSCOW (AFP): Russia said on Saturday it had destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones over its southern regions overnight, mostly in the Rostov area bordering Ukraine.

Kyiv has regularly launched drones into Russia during Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, now in its third year.

“Air defence systems on duty intercepted and destroyed over the territories of Belgorod region (one drone), Kursk region (two drones), Volgograd region (three drones) and Rostov region (41 drones),” the Russian army said on social media.

The southern Rostov region is a hub for the Russian army to plan its military operations in Ukraine.

Rostov governor Vasily Golubev said on social media that a drone attack had hit the city of Taganrog, on the Azov Sea near a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine.

He said a rescue worker was wounded but there were “no dead”.

Social media channels close to the Russian army said Ukraine had targeted an aviation plant in Taganrog.

“In Taganrog, in all likelihood, the target of raid was the Beriev aviation plant,” Telegram channel Rybar, with close army links, said.

The channel also alleged that another target was a military air base further into Russia in the town of Morozovsk.

Authorities in the Kursk region, which lies further north and also borders Ukraine, said a clinic had been damaged in the main city of Kursk.

Regional governor Roman Starovoyt posted a video of himself outside “polyclinic number 6 in Kursk”. The top of the green building was visibly damaged.

“Luckily, everyone is alive,” Starovoyt said, adding that medics had evacuated patients from a nearby hospital.

Kursk is a city of around 440,000 people, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the Ukraine border.