Russia says it intercepted 644 Ukrainian drones as Trump condemns refinery attacks
The Russian defence ministry reported shooting down hundreds of drones over multiple regions, while President Donald Trump called recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities a disgrace.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that air defenses intercepted 644 Ukrainian drones across 26 Russian regions and the annexed Crimean peninsula overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 94 of the drones were shot down as they approached the capital, causing delays and cancellations of nearly 160 flights at the city’s four main airports, with Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo most affected.
Vladimir region Governor Alexander Avdeyev said the attack targeted municipal heating infrastructure serving the regional capital and resulted in only minor damage. Unverified monitoring-channel footage showed an explosion near a data centre owned by Yandex, which had been damaged in a previous strike.
In Ukraine, a Russian strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and injured five, while attacks in the northwestern Volyn region left 370,000 residents without electricity. Polish and NATO fighter jets were scrambled to protect Polish airspace, and rolling blackouts were reported in Kyiv, according to energy provider DTEK on X.
President Donald Trump described the Ukrainian attack on a Russian oil refinery southeast of Moscow as “a disgrace,” saying it would raise world oil prices. The comment came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Kyiv was ending a cease-fire on energy facilities that Trump had said the two sides had agreed to observe. President Vladimir Putin downplayed the impact of the refinery strikes, stating they caused “nothing particularly significant.”
"All he's doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that's a disgrace," Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.
Reuters contributed reporting.