Large-scale Ukrainian drone attack reported in Russia
Pravda Ukraine
A large-scale attack by Ukrainian drones targeting several oblasts was reported in Russia on the evening of 16 March.
Source: Russian Defence Ministry; Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency TASS; local media outlets
Details: The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that 29 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over Russian territory between 18:20 and 19:00. Later, they added that an additional 15 drones had been downed over Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk oblasts.
Between 20:25 and 22:20, air defence forces reportedly destroyed six more Ukrainian UAVs over Volgograd, Rostov and Tula oblasts.
Meanwhile, Alexander Khinshtein, acting governor of Kursk Oblast, claimed that 27 drones had been shot down over the city of Zheleznogorsk, causing a fire on the roof of the city’s bus station. He also stated that an unexploded section of a Ukrainian drone was found on the premises of the Vagonmash plant in Kursk Oblast.
Local media reported that the airport in Nizhny Novgorod implemented the Kovyor (Carpet) plan. Flights were restricted in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, with two scheduled departures – Nizhny Novgorod-Tashkent and Nizhny Novgorod-Chelyabinsk – being delayed. A flight arriving from Sharm El-Sheikh was rerouted to an alternative airport. [A Kovyor plan is an airport operational safety procedure for airport services and personnel when an unidentified object appears in the sky – ed.]
Reports also indicated that drones were flying towards the city of Ryazan.
In the city of Tambov, authorities declared an aerial threat due to potential drone attacks.
Drone alerts were also issued in Krasnodar Krai and the Kuban region.
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