Russia says it downed 221 Ukrainian drones launched on its territory overnight, in one of the largest aerial assaults since May.
More than half of the drones were intercepted over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions, south-west of Moscow, where Lukoil facilities were reportedly targeted, the defence ministry said.
Authorities in the Leningrad region said 28 drones were brought down and that a fire had broken out on a vessel in the Baltic port of Primorsk, Russia’s largest oil terminal. They added that the blaze was extinguished without casualties or leaks.
Meanwhile, officials said two civilians were killed in Ukraine’s Sumy region when a Russian glide bomb struck a village near the border.
Interceptions were reported across at least nine other regions of Russia, including Kaluga, Novgorod and the Moscow area, where nine drones were said to have been destroyed. Debris was recorded across several areas, though Russian officials insisted there had been no casualties.
Seven people, including five civilians and two military personnel, were injured when a drone struck a bus in Bryansk, the region’s Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
Moscow’s figures, which the BBC has been unable to independently verify, suggest Thursday night’s attack constituted one of the largest Ukrainian aerial bombardments in over four months.
Russia said it destroyed a record 524 drones on 7 May. By comparison, Ukrainian officials said Russia had deployed 818 drones against their territory in recent weeks.
The aerial assault is being described as one of the most significant for the Leningrad region since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three-and-a-half years ago. The attack saw operations at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport temporarily suspended.
Cross-border drone raids have become an increasingly prominent feature of the war. In July, a sustained Ukrainian drone attack forced the temporary closure of all of Moscow’s airports.
In recent months, Ukrainian strikes have reached deeper into Russian territory, hitting refineries, fuel depots and logistics hubs hundreds of miles from the frontlines in a bid to limit fuel supplies and drive up costs.
While these strikes have been ongoing for more than a year, they escalated sharply in August, with more than a dozen refineries hit. The damage, coupled with Western sanctions, is proving increasingly difficult to repair.
During those attacks, Ukraine disabled 20% of Russia’s oil refining capacity during August, the White House said last month – though Russian media has downplayed the cause of the damage, citing “unscheduled repairs”.
But Russian newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets warned this week that petrol supplies were “near critical”, with drivers in far eastern Russia reporting kilometre-long queues, rationing and soaring prices.
Strikes have also hit the Druzhba pipeline, disrupting exports to Hungary and Slovakia – potentially cutting off a key source of foreign currency for Russia.
Moscow has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy facilities over the summer as US-led efforts to reach a peace agreement faltered.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that there had been a “pause” in peace negotiations, blaming Ukraine’s European allies for “hindering” the process.
Thursday night’s attacks came ahead of the start of a major joint military exercise between Russia and ally Belarus on Friday, which is staged every four years.
But this time it is taking place just days after a number of Russian drones were shot down or fell on Poland, in what Warsaw called an unprecedented incursion into its airspace.
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