In this photo taken from video and released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on April 4, 2024, a Russian tank fires in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (PHOTO / RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE VIA AP)

KYIV/MOSCOW - Ukraine attacked three Russian military airfields with drones on Friday morning, destroying and damaging planes, the Ukrayinska Pravda media outlet reported, citing its source in Ukraine's intelligence.

At least three Tu-95MC strategic bombers apparently suffered significant damage in a drone strike on the Engels-2 airfield in southwest Russia's Saratov region, it said.

Besides, two Su-25 fighters were destroyed in an attack on the Yeysk airfield in the southwest Krasnodar region.

Ukrainian drones also struck a military airfield in Russia's western city of Kursk.

Earlier in the day, several Ukrainian media, citing their sources in the country's Security Service, reported that Ukraine attacked Morozovsk airfield in southwestern Russia with drones, destroying six warplanes. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Ukraine and its Western allies against attempts to attack or destabilize the situation on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Also on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian military has carried out 39 group strikes against Ukraine over the past week.

The strikes were in response to Ukraine's attempts to attack Russian oil and gas industry facilities, the ministry said.

The group strikes were carried out with high-precision long-range land-based and air-based weapons and drones, mainly targeting Ukrainian energy industry facilities, enterprises of a military-industrial complex, air defense systems, arsenals, fuel depots, and temporary deployment sites for Ukrainian armies and foreign mercenaries, the ministry said.

The objectives of the strikes were achieved, and all designated targets were hit, the ministry added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Ukraine and its Western allies against attempts to attack or destabilize the situation on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP).

"We urge the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and its management to actively use the help of the experts present at the plant to publicly document all incidents of attacks from the Ukrainian side," said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the ministry.

Zaporizhzhia NPP has recorded multiple Ukrainian military drone arrivals at the nuclear facility in recent days, according to a statement from the plant's press service Friday, adding that no damage to critical infrastructure was reported and the plant's operation was not disrupted. 

On Thursday, the facility reported that a backup power line supplying the plant had gone down, and the reasons for the outage, which had not caused any change in the radiation level, were not immediately clear.