Russia says three drones downed as Ukrainian shelling wounds six

Russia says three drones downed as Ukrainian shelling wounds six
Russia said Saturday that it shot down two drones over its Belgorod region and one headed for Moscow, as it reported Ukrainian shelling wounded six people in a border town.
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Moscow, which was rarely attacked during the early stages of the conflict, is now being targeted by almost daily drone strikes [Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty]

Russia said Saturday that it shot down two drones over its Belgorod region and one headed for Moscow, as it reported Ukrainian shelling wounded six people in a border town.

Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula have been hit by a wave of attacks in the past month, after Kyiv warned in July it aimed to "return" the conflict to Russian territory.

The Russian defence ministry said one drone was destroyed close to the border in Belgorod region at 09:00 (0600 GMT), while another was intercepted over the region at 14:15 (1115 GMT).

A separate drone headed for Moscow in the early hours of the morning was also thwarted, the defence ministry said.

Moscow, which was rarely attacked during the early stages of the conflict, is now being targeted by almost daily drone strikes.

"Tonight, air defence forces destroyed a drone on approach to Moscow in the Istrinskii district," the capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.

"Preliminarily, there were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working on the site," he added.

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The drone attacks came as the governor of Russia's Belgorod region said Kyiv shelled the town of Urazovo, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Ukrainian border, injuring six people.

Russian regions bordering Ukraine have regularly accused Kyiv's armed forces of indiscriminate shelling and occasional cross-border incursions by Ukrainian-backed militants.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov accused Ukraine of firing "cluster munitions" in Saturday's attack, and said residential buildings had been damaged.

"As a result of the cluster munition strike, 6 civilians sustained shrapnel wounds," he said in a social media update, after initially reporting four had been injured.

"One victim is in extremely serious condition," he wrote on Telegram.