Russia downs dozens of drones as Kremlin warns NATO over Ukraine

Al Jazeera:

Russia has downed 53 Ukrainian drones, the majority of which targeted the southern Rostov region, the Ministry of Defence said, as the Kremlin warned that Russia and NATO are now in “direct confrontation” over Ukraine.

The ministry said that “terrorist attacks with aerial drones” overnight and on Friday morning were foiled, adding that 44 of them were downed or intercepted in Rostov, where Russia’s Ukraine campaign headquarters is located.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of Rostov, confirmed early on Friday that air defence units had destroyed more than 40 airborne targets, though an electricity substation was damaged.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said the drone attacks had focused on the Morozovsk district, northeast of Rostov, which lies on Ukraine’s eastern border. Golubev said work was under way to restore power supplies in the affected areas.

Russian state news agency RIA reported that one drone was downed in the Saratov region, where an airbase for Russian strategic bombers is located.

Other drones were downed over the Kursk, Belgorod and Krasnodar regions, RIA reported, citing the defence ministry. There were no reports of casualties.

Ukraine has for months launched drone attacks on several border regions as it tries to push back Russia’s advancing forces.