Russia downs five drones in south, near Moscow

Moscow said Thursday it had shot down five Ukrainian drones in the south of Russia and near the capital on Thursday, leaving one injured.

Russia has weathered a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months that sporadically damage buildings, including in Moscow, but officials have downplayed their significance.

The defence ministry said one drone was downed in Ramenskoye, 60km southeast of Moscow, at around 3:00 am local time (2400 GMT), without causing any casualties.

The drone exploded on the fifth floor of a block of flats, breaking the windows of five flats and damaging four vehicles, according to the head of the local administration, Nikolai Khanin.

An AFP journalist in the city said the downed drone crashed in the Rostov-on-Don's historic centre, not far from military headquarters.

The windows and door of a small, old two-storey building were blown out by the impact and several cars parked nearby were damaged.

Law enforcement had cordoned off the area where residents were passing by and taking photos, the journalist reported.

Air defence systems downed two more drones around the same time in the southern city of in Rostov-on-Don, with one falling in the city, injuring one person, the region's governor said.

The city is a key military operational hub for Russia's military fighting in Ukraine. It was briefly captured by mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin last June before he died in a plane crash.

Two other Ukrainian drones were downed several hours later in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine without causing any casualties, the defence ministry said.

Ukrainian shelling in the neighbouring Belgorod region meanwhile had cut power to five villages, the governor said.