Russia downs 20 Ukrainian drones near Crimea

Russia said on Saturday it shot down 20 unmanned Ukrainian drones near the Crimean peninsula where Kyiv has stepped up attacks.

Fourteen drones were downed by air defence systems and six more through electronic warfare, the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging service.

There were no casualties or damage, it said.

A drone was also intercepted in the Kaluga region, some 150 kilometres (about 95 miles) southwest of Moscow, Governor Vladislav Shapsha said on Telegram.

In Moscow, officials said Friday they had destroyed a drone aimed at the capital, the latest in a string of attacks on the city in recent days.

A Ukrainian drone was destroyed over the western outskirts of Moscow, the defence ministry said, adding there were no casualties or damage as a result of the incident.

In July, Ukrainian drone strikes on Crimea blew up an ammunition depot and damaged the bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the peninsula to Russia’s mainland.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.

In Ukraine, Russian attacks on Saturday killed a policeman and injured 12 other people in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

A man was also killed in the Kharkiv region, according to local authorities.

Three Iranian-made Shahed drones were destroyed over Zaporizhzhia, and a missile attack targeted Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Governor Sergiy Lysak.