Russia says 54 Ukrainian drones shot down overnight

Russia said Wednesday that it downed 54 Ukrainian drones launched overnight, half over the Kursk border region where Ukraine forces have pushed a counteroffensive since August.

“Air defense systems destroyed 54 Ukrainian drones,” the defense ministry said, with 27 in Kursk and the others in the neighboring Bryansk, Smolensk, Belgorod and Oryol regions.

In Belgorod, four people were injured and hospitalized after a drone strike, its governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

Another drone crashed at Toropets, a town in the Tver region around 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Moscow, causing a fire and prompting a “partial evacuation of residents”, regional governor Igor Rudenya posted.

READ ALSO:UK inflation steady as Bank of England preps rate decision
“The situation is under control,” he added, without specifying the site of the fire, which Russian media reports said was at a munitions depot.

Russia has recently announced shooting down Ukrainian drones almost daily in response to what Kyiv says are retaliatory strikes for Russian attacks during its offensive launched in February 2022.