Russia Says Air Defences Downed 532 Ukrainian Drones Overnight Across 23 Regions
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 532 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight from 24 to 25 October. The ministry made the statement on its official Telegram channel on 25 October; the figures could not be independently verified.
- 532 fixed-wing drones claimed intercepted between 20:00 Moscow time on 24 October and 08:00 on 25 October
- Interceptions reported over 23 Russian regions and republics, including the Moscow region, plus the Sea of Azov
- A separate ministry statement claimed 125 drones downed during the daytime on 24 October
- The ministry did not report damage or casualties in its statement
Where the drones were reported
According to the ministry, the drones were brought down over a wide arc of territory stretching from the border with Ukraine deep into the Volga region and the Urals. The list included the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Tula, Oryol, Lipetsk, Kaluga, Ryazan, Rostov, Saratov, Samara, Penza, Volgograd and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as the Moscow region, Perm Krai and Krasnodar Krai.
The ministry also named the republics of Tatarstan, Adygea, Mari El and Udmurtia, and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, along with the waters of the Sea of Azov. Perm Krai and Udmurtia lie well over 1,000 kilometres from the front line, reflecting the increasing range of Ukraine’s long-range strike drones.
Daytime claims and the wider pattern
The overnight figure followed an earlier ministry statement saying that air defence units had destroyed 125 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones between 08:00 and 20:00 Moscow time on 24 October. Taken together, the two statements amount to a claimed 657 interceptions within roughly 24 hours.
Ukraine has used long-range drones throughout the war to target Russian oil refineries, fuel depots, airfields and defence plants. Russia, for its part, has stepped up its own drone and missile campaign against Ukraine; the ministry’s daily summary on 24 October said Russian forces had struck Ukrainian port infrastructure and vessels with drones.
Verification and context
Russia’s Defence Ministry typically reports only the number of drones it says were intercepted, not how many were launched or how many reached their targets. Kyiv does not usually comment on Moscow’s interception tallies, and neither side’s battlefield claims can be confirmed independently.
Regional authorities in Russia often report the consequences of such raids separately, including temporary flight restrictions at airports and damage from falling debris. The size of the reported attack underlines how drone warfare has become central to both sides’ efforts to strike targets far behind the front line.
Featured image: Dmitriy Fomin / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
