LIVE – War in Ukraine: Russian attack of 33 drones last night, says Kiev

Drone shot down near Moscow : Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down a drone south of Moscow last night, the capital’s mayor said on Thursday. “In the city of Podolsk, an attack by a drone flying towards Moscow was intercepted by anti-aircraft defenses. According to preliminary information, there were no damages or casualties in the place where the debris fell,” Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said. In a separate statement, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it shot down a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region and “intercepted” another in the Leningrad region (northwest), which is rarely affected by such attacks.

A new attack on Belgorod repulsed: The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has been plagued by deadly attacks for months. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Thursday that “10 missiles” flying toward Belgorod were shot down by the armed forces. Vyacheslav Gladkov said the attack injured a woman, who was hit by shrapnel from the munitions. He added that a house and garage windows were broken in one village and power lines and gas pipes were damaged in another village.

Defense Minister of Ukraine canceled his visit to France. Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Rustem Omerov, canceled his planned visit to France on Thursday for “security reasons”, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced in a press release on Wednesday evening. The Ukrainian minister, however, will participate in the launch of the “artillery coalition” in Paris this Thursday morning, via video conference, with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, which aims to strengthen Kiev’s capabilities against Russia.