INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday that it downed 13 Ukrainian drones in the southern Krasnodar region and areas close to the annexed
Crimean peninsula.On Thursday morning, "five Ukrainian aerial drones were shot down by anti-aircraft defense systems in the Krasnodar
region," the ministry said in a statement.Another eight drones were intercepted during the night "over the Black Sea, close to the Crimean
coast," the statement added.The Defense Ministry said it also destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea that were "heading for
Crimea."Likewise, it said that eight U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles were shot down by air defense systems over the Sea of Azov, near the
annexed peninsula.Faced with more than two years of Russian bombardments, Ukraine has increasingly taken the fight to Russian soil, often
targeting energy infrastructure across the border.
