KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine barraged drones across Russia overnight in an attack that appears to have targeted the country’s energy infrastructure, Moscow’s Defense Ministry announced Saturday.
Fifty drones were shot down by air defenses over eight Russian regions, including 26 over Belgorod region in the country’s west, close to the border with Ukraine. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media that an explosion sparked a fire that gutted his home, and that overnight crossfire killed two people: a woman with a broken leg and the man who was caring for her. he wrote on social media. A pregnant woman and her unborn child were also killed in the shelling late Saturday, he said.
Drones were also reportedly destroyed in western and southern Russia in Bryansk, Kursk, Tula, Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga regions, and Moscow region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet. Details were not disclosed and the claims could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian officials typically refrain from commenting on attacks on mainland Russia. However, many of the drone attacks appear to have been directed at Russia’s energy infrastructure.
The head of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, announced on Saturday that a drone attack caused a fire at an electrical substation, while the governors of Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomas, and Smolensk region, Vasily Anokhin, also said that a fire occurred at a fuel and energy complex. was reported to have occurred.
In recent months, Russian refineries and oil terminals have become priority targets for Ukrainian drone attacks as part of an intensification of attacks on Russian territory.
Ukrainian drone developers have been increasing the range of their weapons for months as Kiev seeks to compensate for its battlefield disadvantage in terms of weapons and manpower. Unmanned aerial vehicles are also an affordable option while Ukraine awaits further military aid from the United States.
Drone attacks on Moscow and Kiev overnight; Ukraine claims 6 fighter jets destroyed at Russian air base https://t.co/XHEhoOXXgH
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 5, 2024
The Russian government also announced Friday night that an American citizen known for fighting against Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 has died in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russell Bentley, 64, is no longer involved in military operations and previously worked for Russia’s state news agency Sputnik. His death was confirmed by a former battalion official and state television channel RT’s director Margarita Simonyan, who described him as a “real American.” He uses the call sign “Texas” and served time in prison for drug smuggling before leaving the United States.
Information about Bentley’s cause of death has not been made public, but local police had previously reported him missing on April 8.
Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with seven missiles overnight, and air defense forces shot down two missiles and three reconnaissance drones, the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Saturday.
Governor Ole Kipel, head of Ukraine’s Odessa region, said ballistic missiles damaged infrastructure overnight, but gave no further details. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said an earlier attack on the Black Sea city on Friday damaged port infrastructure, including two food export terminals.
Russian shelling also killed two men, including an 81-year-old pensioner from the city of Vovtyansk, according to Governor Ole Sinyevov, head of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
He said a 60-year-old woman was also injured when shelling hit a nine-story apartment building.
