MOSCOW - Around 340 drones flew toward the Moscow region in the past day, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Tuesday.
"Over the past 24 hours, 340 drones targeted the Moscow region. Most were neutralized by air defense assets at long-distance outer perimeters. Over 50 drones were eliminated while closing in on Moscow," Sobyanin added.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian military groupings carried out strikes targeting storage depots and assembly facilities for long-range drones belonging to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as temporary staging grounds for Ukrainian combat units spanning 148 separate zones within the 24-hour window.
Also on Tuesday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had thwarted a large-scale drone attack planned by Ukraine's Security Service against a strategic enterprise in the Moscow region.
According to the FSB, the plot involved 35 first-person view drones previously smuggled into Russia and planned to be launched remotely from a warehouse near the targeted facility.
The agency said intelligence led to a special operation in which all drones were destroyed without endangering the facility or nearby civilians. The main perpetrator, a Russian citizen, was detained after assembling and activating the drones and establishing communication with operators abroad. Another suspect was killed after opening fire on law enforcement officers during his arrest.
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The FSB has opened a criminal case on charges of committing a terrorist act.
Earlier, the FSB busted similar plots in which suspects recruited by Ukraine's Security Service planned to launch drone swarm attacks on military airfields in Rostov-on-Don city, the Amur region and the Chelyabinsk region.
Refinery fire in Russia's Krasnodar region
In another development, a fire broke out at the Afipsky refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack, the regional crisis center said Tuesday in a statement posted on social media.
Authorities reported that two people were injured in the attack, and that 16 locations, including several private homes, were damaged by falling drone debris.
Firefighters had extinguished the fire at the Afipsky refinery, according to the center.
