Photo used for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

Forty-six of the drones were over the Kursk region, where Ukraine has sent its forces in recent weeks in the largest incursion on Russian soil since World War II. A further 34 were shot over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region, and 14 over the Belgorod region — all of which border Ukraine.

Drones were also shot down deeper into Russia, including one each in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, and the Ivanovo region, northeast of the Russian capital. Russia’s Defence Ministry said drones were intercepted over 15 regions, while one other governor said a drone was shot down over his region, too.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that falling debris from one of the two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at an oil refinery.

Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault.

Also in Russia, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 people were wounded in Ukrainian aerial missile attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Sunday. These included eight in the regional capital, also called Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had taken control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.

Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.

At least three people were killed and nine wounded on Sunday in Russian shelling in the town of Kurakhove, some 20 miles (33 kilometers) south of Pokrovsk, Donetsk regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said.

Also on Sunday, 44 people were wounded when Russia attacked the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The city was struck by 10 missiles, with a shopping center, a sports facility and residential buildings among those damaged.

Elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, eight drones were shot down out of 11 launched by Russia, according to the Ukrainian air force.

One person was killed and four wounded in shelling overnight in the Sumy region, local officials said, while Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said five other people had been wounded in his region.

A video showing a Ukrainian drone destroying a Russian drone using a stick has gone viral on social media platform X. Posted by the user Special Kherson Cat, it shows the unmanned aerial vehicle hovering a few metres above the ground and another one – claimed to be Russian – moving up. A stick is seen hanging from Ukraine’s Mavic drone, which is at a higher altitude. As the Russian drone comes closer, the Ukrainian military piece swings the stick sending the Russian drone crashing to the ground.

Ukrainian Mavic drone downs Russian Mavic using a stick. https://t.co/JLcbN89GMFpic.twitter.com/Nc58muFWRX

— Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) June 24, 2024

The video has received more than 32,000 views and several users have commented on it.

“Sustainable warfare, what more could you wish for,” commented one user. “This is not exactly what was referred to as fighting with sticks and stones, but here we are,” said another.

Others mocked the Ukrainian military for using such primitive weapons to fight a modern warfare.

Drones have become a key piece of technology for both sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. According to ABC News, Ukraine launched its Unmanned Systems Forces, a new branch of its military focused on drone warfare, in April this year.

Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi was announced as the new branch’s commander.

The DJI Mavic drones were initially used for reconnaissance and dropping grenades. But gradually, they switched to first-person view drones to attack enemy personnel and vehicles.

Shortly after announcing the new defence department, the Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence

In the last two years, Ukraine has developed a series of different kinds of aerial, land and water drones to help to fight against the Russians when it doesn’t have enough heavy weapons, artillery and jets.

A view shows damaged buildings at the site of a Russian drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine on April 23, 2024. Photo: Mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov via Telegram, via Reuters

Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine that injured nine people in the Black Sea port of Odesa, four of them children, and also targeted Kyiv, the capital, Ukraine’s military officials said early on April 23.

The injured children, which include two infants, have been hospitalised, as well as three of the injured adults, the Governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Several residential buildings in the city were damaged and caught fire, he said. At least 14 apartments were damaged, the City Administration added.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 16 attack drones targeting Ukraine and two short-range Iskander ballistic missiles.

Air Defence systems destroyed 15 of the drones over Ukraine’s southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, the central region of Cherkasy and the capital region of Kyiv, the Air Force said on Telegram. It did not say what happened to the missiles.

All the drones Russia launched on Kyiv were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said on Telegram, adding that there were no reports of damage or injuries from the attack.

Also on Telegram, Mykolaiv’s Governor, Vitaly Kim, said wreckage from a downed drone damaged a commercial infrastructure building.