Russia reports 146 drones downed over Leningrad region as peace talks continue

Russian authorities said 146 drones had been shot down over the Leningrad region, northwest of Moscow, during an attack that was still under way on Tuesday. The reported interceptions came amid attacks in Russia and Ukraine and warnings over unidentified drones entering the airspace of Latvia and Lithuania.

Leningrad Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko gave the interception figure in a Telegram statement carried by Russia’s state TASS news agency. He said efforts to counter the drones were continuing. The origin of the drones involved in that attack remained unclear, and the reported total was attributed to Russian authorities.

The region had also been the scene of an attack on Monday, when a Ukrainian drone struck the oil refinery in Kirishi, according to Reuters. The facility is Russia’s second-largest oil refinery. Local authorities reported that a woman was killed in that attack, which preceded the governor’s announcement of the drone interceptions.

On Wednesday, Drozdenko reported another drone attack, this time in the port area of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea. He said on Telegram that the attack had caused a fire. Ust-Luga, like Kirishi, is in the Leningrad region, where authorities had been reporting the continuing response to drones.

The attacks coincided with US-mediated peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The talks entered their second and final day on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the opening day’s discussions as “constructive and quite substantive”.

Elsewhere, TASS reported that Ukrainian forces had fired at least 31 artillery shells into Ukraine’s Moscow-occupied Donetsk region over a 24-hour period. Three civilians were wounded, according to the agency. TASS said 23 of the reported attacks occurred in the Horlivka area, where a drone strike on a vehicle also wounded a couple.

Ukrainian officials separately reported attacks in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, in statements posted on Telegram. Those reports accompanied accounts of the strikes in Russia and the shelling in occupied Donetsk as the negotiations in Abu Dhabi continued.

Latvia and Lithuania warned residents to seek shelter following the escalation, citing threats from unidentified drones entering their airspace through Russia or Belarus. The two Baltic states said NATO air defence systems and fighter jets had been activated in response to the airspace violations.