Russian air defense forces shot down 399 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight on October 8. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the UAVs were intercepted across 21 Russian regions and over the Black Sea.

The overnight assault targeted the Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Orenburg, Penza, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula and Ulyanovsk regions. Russian air defenses also engaged drones in the Moscow region, Bashkortostan, Crimea and Tatarstan, as well as over the Black Sea.

Ukrainian forces had launched another wave of drone attacks the previous day. Between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Moscow time on October 7, Russian troops destroyed 59 UAVs over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Rostov, Smolensk, Tver and Tula regions, Crimea and the Black Sea.

Border areas faced particularly intense attacks. In the Kursk region, Russian units downed 197 drones of various types between 9:00 a.m. on October 7 and 9:00 a.m. on October 8. During the same 24-hour period, Ukrainian troops carried out 123 artillery strikes against evacuated districts. Another 31 attacks involved UAVs dropping explosive devices. No deaths or injuries were reported in the region.

The Belgorod region also came under sustained Ukrainian fire. Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces attacked its territory 117 times, striking the Alekseyevsky, Belgorodsky, Borisovsky, Valuysky, Veydelevsky, Volokonovsky, Grayvoronsky, Korochansky, Krasnogvardeysky, Krasnoyaruzhsky, Novooskolsky, Rakitnyansky, Rovensky, Starooskolsky, Shebekinsky and Yakovlevsky districts.

The attacks included 15 strikes involving artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems. Ukrainian drones also dropped explosives on 17 occasions. Russian air defense crews and other units involved in protecting the region shot down or electronically suppressed 156 UAVs.

The attacks in the Belgorod region resulted in civilian casualties. An 11-year-old girl was killed in the Valuysky district during a Ukrainian strike. Nine other civilians, including another 11-year-old girl, were injured in the Belgorodsky, Valuysky, Grayvoronsky and Rakitnyansky districts.

Six of the injured were hospitalized. All those wounded are receiving the necessary medical treatment.