Russia Claims 433 Ukrainian Drones Downed Overnight, Says It Struck Kyiv CHP-6 Power Plant
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday, 31 October 2026, that its air defence units intercepted and destroyed 433 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight over 19 Russian regions, and claimed that its own drone strikes hit a combined heat and power plant in Kyiv, industrial facilities in Kharkiv and a cargo ship off Odesa. The claims were made on the ministry’s official Telegram channel and could not be independently verified.
- 433 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones claimed intercepted overnight on 30–31 October
- Drones reported over 17 regions plus the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan
- Russia claims strikes on Kyiv’s CHP-6, the Proton industrial zone in Kharkiv and a cargo ship 18 km south of Odesa
- A day earlier the ministry claimed 113 drones downed between 08:00 and 20:00 Moscow time
Wide geographic spread of the claimed interceptions
According to the ministry, the drones were downed over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Kaluga, Tula, Oryol, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Smolensk, Tambov, Volgograd, Rostov, Penza, Samara, Saratov, Orenburg and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as over Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.
The list stretches from border areas deep into the Volga and southern Urals regions, underlining the range Ukrainian long-range drones are now reported to reach. The ministry did not say whether any drones hit their targets or report damage on the ground. The figure follows the ministry’s claim of more than 1,000 drones downed the previous night.
Claimed strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa
In a separate statement, the ministry said Russian forces had continued overnight drone strikes on logistics and energy infrastructure it said served Ukraine’s defence industry. It claimed that Kyiv’s CHP-6 combined heat and power plant was hit, describing it as supplying electricity to military logistics and weapons storage sites.
The ministry also said workshops in the Proton industrial zone in Kharkiv, which it claimed produced components for weapons, and warehouses used to assemble and store drones were struck. It further claimed that a dry cargo ship carrying goods for the Ukrainian military was hit at sea about 18 km south of Odesa.
Context and verification
Ukrainian officials had not publicly confirmed the specific Russian claims at the time of writing. Kyiv has repeatedly said Russian strikes on its energy system target civilian infrastructure ahead of winter.
Over the past week the ministry has also claimed hits on 11 dry cargo ships it said were delivering military and dual-use goods to Ukraine. Neither side’s battlefield figures can be independently confirmed, and both regularly publish claims that the other disputes.
Featured image: Jovo Mamula / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
