Moscow experiences large drone attack overnight: Russia

Moscow, Aug 21 (IANS) Russia destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, including 11 over the Moscow region, the Russian Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that there were 11 drones shot down over the territory of the Moscow region, one of the largest drone attacks on Moscow ever, Xinhua news agency reported.

Another 23 drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region, six were shot down over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region, the ministry said.Meanwhile, three counterattacks of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Avdeyevka direction were disrupted overnight, the ministry said.Last week, the Russian military repelled a similar group missile attack on the Crimean Bridge and drone attacks over the Black Sea overnight.

"Air defence systems repelled a group attack by 12 US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles on the Crimean Bridge over the night. All missiles were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.The ministry added that Ukraine had launched drone attacks in the Black Sea on August 15 and that its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed five Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea.Russian helicopters destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned boats in the Black Sea heading in the direction of Crimea, it added.