War in Ukraine: Russia announces having destroyed 347 Ukrainian drones in a single evening, against a tense backdrop of ceasefire

Russia announced this Thursday that it had shot down 347 Ukrainian drones across its territory since Wednesday evening. A particularly high number of attacks which caused the death of one person in a region bordering Ukraine, according to local authorities.

The devices, which targeted around twenty Russian regions, including Moscow, were “intercepted and destroyed” between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Moscow time, specifies a press release from the Ministry of Defense.

In the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, a woman was killed in a drone attack in the Chebekino district, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, adding that two men were also injured there.

A flouted ceasefire

Thirteen people were also injured in Ukrainian strikes which hit residential buildings in the city of Bryansk, about a hundred kilometers from the border, on Thursday night, announced the local governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz.

The context of these strikes is part of a tense exchange around a ceasefire. Russia had unilaterally declared a truce for Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which will see a parade without military equipment on Red Square in Moscow. kyiv then conditioned its acceptance on immediate respect of this ceasefire from May 6, which was probably not respected.

Indeed, Ukraine has denounced multiple Russian attacks on its territory despite this. Promising a response to any violation, kyiv de facto saw its threats materialize with the intensification of drone strikes during the night from Wednesday to Thursday transforming what should have been a period of calm into an escalation in the run-up to May 9 which promises to be particularly tense.