Russia says it downs 251 Ukrainian drones, including 61 over Black Sea

(Reuters) - Russia said on Monday its air defence units destroyed 251 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the southwest, with 61 over the waters of the Black Sea and one heading towards Moscow.

The Russian defence ministry posted the figures on the Telegram messaging app, but there was no official information on possible damage. The ministry reports only the number of drones destroyed, not how many Ukraine launches.

Ukrainian news channels on Telegram said a large fire was sparked by a hit on an oil depot in Feodosia on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea. A fuel tank at the depot exploded as a result of the attack, the RBK-Ukraine media outlet said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports on Feodosia.

BELGOROD ATTACKED

Meanwhile, Ukraine's overnight shelling of the Russian region of Belgorod damaged power infrastructure, snapping electricity links to thousands of customers, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine said on Monday.

Although engineers and emergency services restored power to nearly 34,000 consumers by Monday morning, about 5,400 in 24 municipal areas were still without electricity, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Belgorod and other regions adjacent to Ukraine have faced persistent cross-border shelling and drone attacks, as the war Moscow unleashed against Kyiv in 2022 has spilled on to Russian soil, disrupting civilian life and damaging critical infrastructure.

Ukraine offered no immediate comment on the attack. Both sides say their strikes with each other's territory aim to destroy infrastructure key to the overall war effort.