Russia shoots down five drones near Moscow in the south

Moscow reported on Thursday that it has shot down five Ukrainian drones in the city and in southern Russia. One person was hurt.

Officials in Russia have downplayed the significance of a spate of Ukrainian drone assaults that have occasionally damaged buildings, including those in Moscow, in recent months.

According to the defence ministry, a drone was shot down in Ramenskoye, 60 kilometres southeast of Moscow, at about 3 a.m. local time (2 a.m. GMT), but no one was hurt.

According to Nikolai Khanin, the chairman of the local government, the drone detonated on the fifth floor of a residential building, shattering the windows of five apartments and destroying four vehicles.

According to an AFP reporter in the area, the downed drone crashed close to the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don’s historic core.

A modest, ancient two-story building’s windows and entrance were blown out by the collision, and numerous nearby parked cars also suffered damage.

According to the journalist, police had blocked off the area where people were walking past and taking pictures.

In the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, air defence systems shot down two other drones at roughly the same time. One of the drones fell inside the city, injuring one person, according to the governor of the area.

In Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine, the city serves as a crucial military operations hub. Last June, mercenaries commanded by Yevgeny Prigozhin briefly held it until his death in an aircraft crash.

Several hours later, two more Ukrainian drones were shot down in the adjacent Bryansk region without anybody being hurt, according to the military ministry.

Meanwhile, the governor reported that five villages had lost power as a result of Ukrainian bombardment in the nearby Belgorod region.