Russian air defence systems allegedly shot down 16 Ukrainian drones on the night of 4 January, the Russian Defence Ministry has said. According to their data, 10 drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region, three over the Smolensk region, and one each over the Belgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions.
Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region, said that one of the drones was allegedly shot down near the Luga Bay of the Gulf of Finland. No casualties or damage were recorded, he said. According to the telegram channel ‘Careful, news’, the drone tried to attack the seaport of Ust-Luga, where the evacuation of employees was announced.
Later, Drozdenko reported two more downed drones in the area of the Luga Bay, the wreckage of one of them fell in the forest.
At St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, flight restrictions were imposed twice because of the air alert: the first time from 23:43 to 0:48 local time, the second time from 07:45 to 10:15, Rosaviatsia said. As a result, 20 aircraft were sent to alternate aerodromes.
In the Belgorod region, a resident of the village of Prelestnoye allegedly suffered a shrapnel wound to his leg as a result of the drone attack, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Windows, the facade of a house, a fence and a car were damaged in the village. In the village of Prokhorovka, power lines were allegedly disrupted due to the impact, and in the village of Mikhailovka, a gas pipeline and the fence of a private house were damaged.
Authorities in Smolensk and Bryansk regions said there were no damage or casualties in their regions. The governor of the Pskov region has not yet commented on the attack.