Russian air defense shot down 38 Ukrainian drones during the day, and more than 500 at night

Daytime and nighttime intercepts

Russian air defense systems over 12 hours — from 08:00 to 20:00 Moscow time on October 25 — intercepted and destroyed 38 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. According to the ministry, the drones were shot down over the Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Oryol, Perm, Smolensk and Tver regions, as well as over the Black Sea (Gazeta.Ru).

Nighttime attack

Earlier, the Defense Ministry reported that on the night of October 25, more than half a thousand Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Russian territory. The attacks were repelled in 15 regions, including Penza, Tula, Bryansk, Ryazan, Ulyanovsk, Oryol, Saratov, Voronezh, Kursk, Rostov, Belgorod, Samara, Lipetsk, Volgograd and Kaluga. Some targets, according to the ministry, were shot down over Perm and Krasnodar territories, the capital region and five republics — Udmurtia, Adygea, Crimea, Tatarstan and Mari El — while the rest were downed over the Sea of Azov (Gazeta.Ru).

Context

Gazeta.Ru also noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had earlier attacked an industrial zone in the Lipetsk region. The figures cited come exclusively from the Russian Defense Ministry; there is no independent confirmation of the reported numbers in publications, nor any information about crashes or damage on the ground, apart from the mention of the attack on the industrial zone.

Why it matters

The scale of the nighttime attack — more than 500 drones shot down according to the Defense Ministry — affects residents of nearly two dozen regions, where air defense activity directly impacts airport operations and ground safety. For readers, the practical implication is ongoing movement restrictions and risk in the listed regions, while the final daily figures can so far only be assessed based on reports from the military ministry.