Ukraine launched drone attacks on the Kursk region of Russia overnight from Sunday to Monday, with the Russian defence ministry saying its forces had shot down two drones after midnight on Monday. The drone attack on the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine to its west, began around 1 a.m. Monday (2200 GMT Sunday), the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. This followed a report Sunday evening by the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, that debris from a downed drone sparked a fire at a non-residential building in the city of Kurchatov. One of Russia's biggest nuclear plants is about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from Kurchatov, but there were no reports the plant was affected or targeted.

Starovoit did not say which building was damaged in the Sunday evening drone attack, but Russia's Baza news outlet, which has good sources among law enforcement agencies, said drone debris fell on the roof of the security services building. The full extent of the damage was not immediately reported. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Drone attacks on Russian targets, especially in Crimea - annexed by Moscow in 2014 - and in regions bordering Ukraine, have become almost a daily occurrence since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.

The attacks have disrupted flights in and out of Moscow in recent weeks. Ukraine rarely takes direct responsibility for such drone strikes but says destroying Russian military infrastructure helps a counteroffensive Kyiv began in June.Russia recognises first crew to use hypersonic missile in Ukraine -TASS The first Russian crew to use hypersonic, air-launched Kinzhal missiles during Moscow's military operation in Ukraine has been presented with state awards, the Russian TASS state news agency reported on Monday. "The Su-34 aircraft used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile during the special military operation," TASS cited an unnamed military source as saying. "The first crew that successfully completed this task was presented with state awards."

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation". Kyiv and its allies say the 18-month-long Russian aggression is an unprovoked war to grab land. Moscow has said very little so far about the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, but Ukraine's military Kyiv says Russia uses them frequently. TASS did not say when Russia used the Kinzhal missiles for the first time in Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry said in March that the missiles had been deployed to destroy Ukrainian targets, according to the ministry's Telegram channel.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)