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Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russian territory ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara to show European countries it was ready to strike civilian targets in Russia with their funding.
In a statement, the ministry said Ukraine attempted a major attack overnight on July 5-6 against targets in Russian territory outside the area Moscow calls its "special military operation" zone.
The ministry said Ukraine used 625 long-range attack drones in the assault and that 613 aerial targets were shot down or neutralized over Russian regions.
"The purpose of this attack was (Ukraine's President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy's desire to show his European sponsors, including Britain, on the eve of the NATO summit in Ankara, that he is ready to attack civilian targets in Russia from Ukrainian territory with their money," the ministry said.
The ministry said Ukraine focused on damaging civilian fuel and energy infrastructure facilities and logistics links in several areas, including the Leningrad, Bryansk, Belgorod, Yaroslavl, Kaluga and Kursk regions, as well as Crimea.
According to the statement, Russian forces destroyed 147 drones over the Bryansk region, 43 over Belgorod, 48 over Leningrad, 72 over Yaroslavl, 64 over Crimea and 31 over Kaluga.
The ministry said Russian air defense systems, mobile strike units, fighter jets and aviation crews countered the attack.
"Zelenskiy's operation planned during the NATO summit was thwarted, and the vast majority of Ukrainian drones were shot down or neutralized," the ministry said. "However, some civilian facilities damaged in the attack will be repaired soon."
The ministry also referred to Russia's strikes on the night of July 6, saying they were carried out in response to what it called Ukraine's "terror attacks."
It said the Russian Armed Forces launched a large-scale strike using air-, land- and sea-launched long-range high-precision guided missiles and drones against military-industrial facilities, fuel and energy sites linked to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kyiv and the Kyiv region.
The ministry said Western efforts to increase supplies of drones, missiles and ammunition produced in European countries and Britain, and Zelenskyy's intention to use them against civilian targets in Russia, would not be ignored.
"This will be answered by the Russian army with retaliatory strikes of appropriate number and power on Ukrainian territory," the ministry said.
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