Russian air defenses shoot down 33 Ukrainian drones overnight

On the night of 21 November, Russian air-defense forces downed 33 UAVs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, seven drones were shot down over Smolensk and Rostov regions each, six over Belgorod region, five over the Black Sea, four over Crimea, and two each over Voronezh region and Krasnodar Krai, Caliber.Az reports.

Smolensk Governor Vasily Anokhin reported on his Telegram channel that there are no casualties and emergency services are currently working at the sites where the debris fell.

In the Rostov region, a power line support near the Nagibin farm was damaged due to a UAV strike, leaving more than 200 homes without electricity.

Over the past night, nine airports suspended operations. At the time of reporting, restrictions remain in Volgograd, Krasnodar, Izhevsk, and Tambov, while flights have resumed at airports in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Samara, Saratov, and Kotlas.

These incidents come amid a continuing cycle of attacks on both sides, with recent large-scale Russian strikes highlighting the ongoing escalation.

Russia has reported increasingly frequent and large‑scale Ukrainian drone strikes deep into its territory, targeting not only military but also critical infrastructure.

On November 19, in a major escalation, western Ukraine’s city of Ternopil was hit by a combined Russian barrage of 476 drones and 48 missiles.

The strikes struck two residential high-rise buildings, killing around 26 people (including children) and injuring dozens more.

Ukrainian officials say the attack damaged power grid infrastructure across several regions, aggravating energy shortages just as winter deepens.

By Jeyhun Aghazada