On the night of April 29, 2025, Russian air defense forces repelled a massive attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), shooting down 91 fixed-wing drones over nine regions of Russia and the Black Sea. This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The main blow fell on the Kursk region, where 40 drones were destroyed. A significant number of drones were also intercepted in the Oryol (12) and Ryazan (11) regions, as well as in the Nizhny Novgorod region (8). Six and seven UAVs were shot down over Crimea and the Black Sea, respectively, three in the Belgorod region, two in the Moscow region, and one drone was neutralized in each of the Kaluga and Bryansk regions. From 20:00 on April 28 to 06:00 on April 29, the air defense worked in an enhanced mode, preventing potential strikes on strategic targets.

The attack began at around 20:20 p.m. Moscow time and continued into the early morning. In Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, where eight drones were shot down, residents reported loud explosions at around 2:45 a.m., accompanied by car alarms going off. Governor Gleb Nikitin confirmed that air defense and electronic warfare (EW) systems repelled the attack over two districts of the region, including Dzerzhinsk, where, according to the SHOT Telegram channel, Lyuty UAVs with high-explosive charges were used. Three of the downed drones did not detonate, and sappers are working at the crash sites. Presumably, the drones were launched from the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of Ukraine.

In the Ryazan region, where 11 drones were destroyed, local residents reported explosions in the area of ​​an oil refinery, which had previously been attacked with six explosions on January 26, 2025.

The scale of the attack, which spanned regions from the border region of Kursk to Moscow, underscores Ukraine’s ramping up of drone operations. The Drone Line program, launched in February 2025, allows the Ukrainian military to offset the decline in Western aid with cheap drones like the Lyuty, which can carry up to 60 kilograms of explosives, according to The New York Times.

The effectiveness of the air defense is confirmed by the absence of significant destruction. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, emergency services are examining the sites of the debris fall to eliminate the threat of explosions.

Drone attacks on Russian regions have increased in frequency in 2025. Earlier, on April 24, the Defense Ministry reported intercepting 87 UAVs, including 45 over Crimea, and on April 9, 158 drones in 11 regions. These incidents reflect Ukraine's strategy of striking deep into Russia, targeting oil refineries, military bases, and defense industry enterprises.