UKRAINE – Both Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of overnight drone attacks, with Ukraine saying that it destroyed 83 of the 111 Russian drones on Tuesday evening.

Ukraine’s Air Force said the attack, which began after 6 pm local time (1600GMT), involved Shahed and Geran-type strike UAVs launched from Kursk, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and Crimea.

It noted that more than 60 of the drones were Shahed models. “The air attack was repelled by anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare, unmanned systems, and mobile fire groups,” the statement said.

By 8 am (2000GMT), Ukrainian defenses had downed or suppressed 83 drones across the country’s north, south, and east.

Authorities recorded 27 UAV strikes on 13 locations, as well as debris impacts at another site. Civilian infrastructure and private homes were damaged in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions, with casualties reported.

Meanwhile, Russian officials said drones struck oil depots in the Voronezh and Tambov regions.

The head of Russia’s Tambov region, Yevgeny Pervyshchev, said a fire erupted at the Tambov oil facility in the village of Dmytrivka after “UAV debris fell,” adding that emergency crews responded quickly.

Authorities in Voronezh said four drones were destroyed and that several fuel tanks were slightly damaged but did not ignite.

Russia’s Defense Ministry separately claimed its air defenses shot down 102 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones across seven regions overnight, including Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Rostov, Astrakhan, Saratov, and Voronezh.

The competing accounts come amid intensified cross-border drone activity, with both sides reporting expanded use of long-range UAVs targeting military and energy infrastructure.

Russia Captures New Settlement

Russia claimed on Wednesday that another Ukrainian settlement went under control of its forces over the past day.

The group of forces Vostok (East) advanced in the Zaporizhzhia region and captured the settlement of Chervone, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry added that the Russian aviation, artillery and drones hit Ukraine’s military infrastructure in 145 areas.

The ministry also claimed Kyiv attempted another attack in the Black Sea with naval drones, and two of them were intercepted in the sea’s northwestern part Tuesday night.