Background: ・In January 2024, Russia claimed to have intercepted drones near Moscow and, for the first time, in Leningrad Oblast. ・Later, it was revealed that the drone attack on an oil depot in Leningrad Oblast by Ukrainian drones on the night of 17-18 January was a special operation by Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

A key oil facility erupted into flames this morning following a suspected drone strike by Ukraine inside Russia. The attack hit a depot in Russia 's Yartsevo district of the Smolensk region, which caught fire overnight on December 31, Russian authorities said.

Russia's Defence Ministry has claimed that Ukrainian drones attacked Russia on the evening of 1 January, causing a temporary suspension of flights at Kaluga, Penza, Saransk and Saratov airports. Source: Russia's Defence Ministry;

Ukrainian drones hit high-rise buildings in Russia today, presenting a chilling resemblance to the 9/11 attack in the US when planes rammed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001.

In Russia-occupied Crimea, the Moscow-appointed head of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that Russian defenses downed four aerial drones attacking the city and sank two uncrewed boats near the shore.

Russian state newspaper Izvestia says one of its freelance reporters has been killed in a drone strike near the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has accused Ukraine's military of deliberately targeting Alexander Martemyanov.

Russia is demanding the United Nations condemn Kyiv following an alleged drone attack that it claims killed a journalist working for a Russian outlet and injured several others.

Ukrainian forces started a surprising ground offense against Russia in August in the Kursk region but then began to lose ground after Russia deployed up to 12,000 North Korean troops in the region in its nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine.

A freelance journalist working for Russian state newspaper Izvestia has been killed in a drone strike near the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to the publication. Izvestia claimed that the attack targeted a civilian vehicle on a highway within a Russian-occupied area.

Russian forces launched 103 drones from three directions towards Ukraine on the night of January 5. Air defense shot down more than half of them, according to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.