Russian Air Defenses Down 42 Drones, Knock Out Ukrainian Modified S-200 Missile

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia was attacked early Friday by 42 Ukrainian drones, 33 of them were suppressed by electronic warfare systems, and nine were shot down by air defenses, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"The Kiev regime's attempt to carry out terrorist attacks using aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted last night. A total of 42 UAVs were detected by the air defense systems," the ministry said.

"Nine UAVs were destroyed, 33 were suppressed by electronic warfare systems and crashed without reaching the target over the territory of the Republic of Crimea," it said.

Earlier, Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopol, issued a statement detailing that several unmanned UAVs had been destroyed over the sea in the vicinity of Cape Chersonesus.

At the time, he noted that no damage to civilian infrastructure had been detected. "The city is quiet now. But all forces and services are in a state of combat readiness," he added.

The developments came not long after the Russian Defense Ministry had previously confirmed air defenses had shot down a modified Ukrainian S-200 missile over Russia's Kaluga Region.

"Last night, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks on civilian objects on the territory of the Russian Federation with a modified missile from an S-200 air defense complex has been foiled," the ministry said in a statement.

Since the onset of Russia's special military operation, the Kiev regime has repeatedly sought to carry out drone strikes near civilian populations, which have largely been thwarted by Russian defenses. Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry confirmed that Russia scrambled fighter jets near the Crimean Peninsula after MQ-9 Reaper and TB2 Bayraktar drones were spotted in the vicinity.