The large-scale aerial raid targeted over 20 regions of the country, including Moscow and Crimea.
Russia has come under another large-scale Ukrainian drone attack, with more than 600 UAVs brought down by air defenses across the country overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
The incoming drones were blown up or suppressed by electronic warfare means in more than 20 regions, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanian wrote on Telegram that 11 UAVs had been intercepted on approach to the Russian capital.
The raid caused a blackout in Crimea, with the local electric grid operator, Krymenergo, saying that “due to technological disruptions caused by external influences on high-voltage networks, a massive outage occurred in all cities and districts of the republic of Crimea.”
The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, confirmed that there was a power outage in the largest city on the peninsula as a result of drone strikes on energy infrastructure. By morning, “power had returned to most residential buildings,” he said.
Kiev has ramped up its long-range UAV attacks on energy facilities and civilian targets inside Russia amid continued setbacks on the battlefield in recent months. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the capture of the key Ukrainian stronghold of Konstantinovka, which opened the way towards the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration – the last two remaining cities held by the Kiev troops in Donbass.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the government of Vladimir Zelensky that “the more strikes the opponent attempts to deliver against our civilian sites… the larger the safety zone we will have to create in the adjacent territory.”
Moscow previously said that it would respond to terrorist attacks by Kiev with “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers.”
According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian forces carried out another large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine in the early hours of Monday.
Defense industrial sites, including drone-making factories, as well as fuel and energy facilities in Kiev and surrounding areas were hit, according to the ministry. The raid also targeted military airfields in the Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy, Chernigov and Kiev regions, it added.
