Russia says it downed 281 Ukrainian drones in 12 hours

MOSCOW — Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses intercepted 281 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour period, in one of the largest such tallies it has reported since the start of the war. The ministry said the fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Moscow time. According to the ministry, air defense units operated over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Ryazan, Tver, Tula and Moscow regions, as well as over Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Crimea, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Black Sea. Russia has regularly published daily counts of drones intercepted during its full-scale conflict with Ukraine, with the frequency of Ukrainian drone strikes increasing in recent months. The ministry confirmed that the downed aircraft were Ukrainian and were destroyed over Russian territory. No further details on potential damage or casualties were immediately provided in the statement.