Russia says it downed 411 Ukrainian drones as Kyiv's power grid teeters

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its air defenses knocked down 411 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight. The ministry said the UAVs came down across a wide arc of Russian territory and adjacent waters. There's no independent confirmation of the tally yet.

The claimed intercepts span Bryansk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Saratov, Samara and Tula, plus Crimea and the Azov and Black Seas. That spread suggests a sweeping overnight barrage rather than a single concentrated push.

Moscow wasn't only playing defense. The defense ministry said it hit military-industrial, energy and transport infrastructure in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, describing the facilities as support for the Ukrainian army. According to RIA Novosti, the ministry said a massive strike was carried out with high-precision ground-based weapons and long-range strike drones.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko painted a grim morning after. He said energy facilities in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions were damaged, the capital's Northern Bridge was hit, and traffic on it is closed in both directions. Five people were injured in the city, including a 14-year-old, with two hospitalized.

Klitschko called Kyiv's energy supply situation extremely difficult, and gave no timetable for restoring services. The outage rippled through electricity, heating and water systems. It caps a brutal week of repeated strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure that has already left severe power and water outages across the capital.