The defense ministry said Russia’s air defense systems destroyed 75 drones launched from Ukraine overnight, more than half of them over the Rostov region in the southwest. Eight of the drones were near Tuapse on the Black Sea, where the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that the major oil refinery of Rosneft is located. It added that the rest targeted Krasnodar, and single drones were over the Belgorod, Voronezh, and Smolensk regions. The ministry did not say whether the drones had caused any damage.
The ministry did not say what was carried in the drones. But one Russian media outlet, the RIA Novosti agency, quoted an unnamed source saying that the drones were carrying “nuclear devices.”
Another media outlet, the Telegram channel Rybar, which has close army links, reported that the drone attack near Tuapse hit offices of the delegations of the Ministry of Economy, the Scientific and Technical Library of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development, their subordinate structures and a local body of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart). It said the attacks began at about 3:17 a.m. and were followed by a second wave at 4:20 a.m. There were no casualties or damage reported.
Rostov regional governor Vasily Golubev said on social media that a drone strike had hit the city of Taganrog on the Azov Sea, near a border crossing with Ukraine, and that its debris had hit a military airfield in the nearby town of Morozovsk. Golubev said that there were no injuries or significant damage.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian defense ministry, Andriy Podolyak, said the Russian government was getting used to a full-fledged war, adding that “more civilians will be killed, more infrastructure will collapse, and the authors of this war will soon finally move to the territory of Ukraine to collect all their debts.”
On Sunday, Ukraine launched missile and drone strikes against Russia’s energy infrastructure in retaliation for Moscow’s ongoing military aggression on its territory. Earlier this year, Kyiv stepped up its attacks on the Kremlin’s energy facilities to cut off fuel supplies and cripple its war machine.
Ukraine’s military offensive against Russia is now in its third year, with the country facing a shortage of troops and ammunition as it battles Russian-backed separatists on the front line. In the past, Ukraine has struck Russian oil depots and refineries to undermine the Kremlin’s war efforts.
Since the beginning of 2022, Ukraine’s military and civilian officials have repeatedly said attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure are a response to Moscow’s continued aggression on its territory. The strikes have damaged several critical energy facilities and caused widespread power outages in southern Ukraine. The country is also struggling to produce enough electricity for its population and has had to impose rolling blackouts and import supplies from the West. Ukraine has vowed to continue its assault until it takes back control of all of its territory, including its energy sector.
