Russia says it thwarted 6 Ukrainian drone strikes over Moscow, Crimea

Russia claimed that its air defenses foiled six Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and the Crimean Peninsula early on Sunday .

"On September 17, at about 1.45 Moscow time (2245GMT), an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the claims as of 7.10 GMT.

Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Istrinsky district of the Moscow region, it said.

A later statement claimed that four more Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by Russian air defense systems in the following 35 minutes over the northwestern and eastern coasts of the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

In the following hours, Kyiv attempted another drone attack on targets in Russian territory. Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed the drone over the Domodedovo district of Moscow, the ministry further said.

Drone strikes inside Russia have dramatically increased in recent months, with authorities accusing Ukraine of being behind them.

- Russian missiles hit Ukraine's Odesa

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Air Force Command claimed Russia struck a civilian agricultural facility in the southern region of Odesa with missiles.

The Russian military launched the overnight attacks on Ukrainian territory using cruise missiles and UAVs, it said in a statement.

Ukrainian defense forces identified a total of 16 aerial targets, mainly focusing on Odesa, and intercepted and destroyed 12 of them, including six cruise missiles, it added.

The attack caused damage to agricultural infrastructure in Odesa but did not cause any casualties.

Out of six downed drones, four were hit in the Mykolaiv Region, and two above Odesa, the Ukrainian Southern Defense Forces Command said.