On May 17, 2025, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that on the night from 22:00 on May 16 to 06:00 on May 17, air defense (AD) duty assets destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the aircraft type. One drone was shot down over the territory of the Belgorod region, the second - over the Kursk region. This is stated in the official statement of the department, published on the Telegram channel. The incident became part of the ongoing attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the border regions of Russia.

The drone attack comes amid heightened tensions in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, which are regularly hit by Ukrainian airstrikes. On May 16, a Ukrainian FPV drone attacked an electrical substation in Rylsk, damaging a transformer and causing a power outage in the city, as well as in the villages of Korenevo and Glushkovo.

In recent days, the activity of Ukrainian UAVs in border regions has remained high. Thus, on May 14, 12 drones were destroyed over the Belgorod region and the Black Sea, and on May 13, three drones were destroyed over the Belgorod and Kursk regions.

Kursk and Belgorod regions remain in the high-risk zone. In Kursk region, a counter-terrorism operation (CTO) regime has been in effect since August 9, 2024, and a federal emergency regime has been in effect since August 15 due to shelling and attempted breakthroughs by sabotage groups. In Belgorod region, the "yellow" level of terrorist threat has remained since April 2022, and a CTO regime has been in effect since August 2024. Gladkov previously reported that more than 320 civilians have died in the region since the beginning of the conflict, and the number of wounded has exceeded 2000.