Russia destroys over 120 Ukrainian drones, confirms damage to oil refinery

Russia said on Friday that its forces shot down the majority of over 120 Ukrainian drones in an overnight attack, confirming that an oil refinery in the Bryansk region was partially damaged and ceased operations.

According to a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry, 124 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight across 13 Russian regions, with the majority of them neutralized in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukrainian media claimed that an attack in the Ryazan region had set fire to a major oil refinery.

However, the region's governor, Pavel Malkov, said a private house was damaged during the incident while providing no information about the oil refinery.

"A fire broke out but was promptly extinguished. There are no casualties," Malkov stated on his Telegram channel.

According to some reports, the Ukrainian drone attack targeted an oil refinery in Russia's Saratov region, as well as the Silicon Group plant in the Bryansk region -- one of Russia's largest enterprises in the field of microelectronics.

The Silicon Group later confirmed that a portion of its production facilities had been damaged during the attack, prompting a halt in operations to carry out repair work.

In addition, several airports were temporarily closed due to the drone attacks, including Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, and Vnukovo in Moscow, as well as airports in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Penza, Saratov, Ufa, and Samara.

Russian drones kill three near Kiev

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials claimed that Russian aerial attacks near Kiev killed three people and wounded several others.

Black smoke billowed from a residential building damaged in the Russian counterstrike as rescue workers hauled out the bodies of the victims, official images from the scene showed.

"Three people were killed in an enemy attack in the Kiev region," the emergency services said in a statement on social media.

It said fragments of a drone had struck a 10-storey residential building after the head of the region said a private home had also been hit.

The Ukrainian air force said that its air defence systems had shot down 25 Russian attack drones over seven regions, including Kiev and the western Lviv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out at Russia and said Ukrainian allies should clamp down on sanctions to stop Moscow from producing arms.

"There must be accountability for every component for the production of Shaheds and missiles that are supplied in violation of sanctions," he said in a statement on social media.

Trump's pressure on Putin

Moscow and Kiev are vying for advantage ahead of possible negotiations in the early days of US President Donald Trump's administration.

Prior to his inauguration, Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war immediately upon taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kiev to make concessions to Russia.

But this week he stepped up pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a deal, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the nearly three-year-old war.

During a Fox News interview on Thursday, Trump said: "If they don't settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I'm going to put massive tariffs on Russia, and massive taxes, and also big sanctions.