March 14 (Reuters) – Russian air defence units have downed 65 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow throughout the day on Saturday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Sobyanin, writing on Telegram, said the drones were intercepted over an 11-hour period beginning around noon (0900 GMT). Crews were examining the fragments at the sites where they fell.
The governor of Bryansk region on the Ukrainian border, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Telegram that units in his region had downed 128 drones. He gave no time frame.
Ukrainian forces earlier this week said they had struck a key plant producing missile components in Bryansk region. Bogomaz said seven people died in that attack, without saying what was hit.
According to the most recent report issued by the Russian Defence Ministry, air defence units intercepted 280 Ukrainian drones on Saturday in various parts of central and western Russia over a 10-hour period ending at 9 p.m.
It said 47 drones targeting Moscow were among those downed.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Diane Craft)
