Russian defense officials announced Thursday that their air defense systems destroyed 220 Ukrainian drones during a nine-hour span, with two dozen of those aircraft reportedly targeting the capital city.
According to the Defense Ministry’s most recent update, 53 drone aircraft were shot down during a three-hour window that concluded at 11 p.m. local time (2000 GMT).
Central Russian territories bore the brunt of the drone activity, with defense officials reporting that a dozen of the unmanned aircraft had Moscow as their intended destination.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, posted on the Telegram messaging platform that 27 drones approaching the city were eliminated, with the defensive operations beginning around 5 p.m.
