Over the past night, Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 258 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions of the country. This was reported by Russia’s Defense Ministry, which stated that all UAV attempts were successfully neutralized.

According to the ministry, between 20:00 on April 17 and 08:00 on April 18, on-duty air defense units intercepted and destroyed fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

The drones were detected and shot down over the Belgorod, Saratov, Bryansk, Samara, Kursk, Smolensk, Voronezh, Pskov, Volgograd, Tambov, Rostov, Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Leningrad, and Astrakhan regions. UAVs were also intercepted over Crimea, Kuban, and the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.

Earlier, one of the Ukrainian drones fell near a maternity hospital in Novokuybyshevsk. Samara Region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev reported that the blast shattered windows in the building, but no patients or staff were injured. All mothers were relocated to nearby medical facilities.