Russian war ministry: Four Ukrainian drones shot down over Murmansk
According to the Russian war ministry, four Ukrainian drones were on May 3 shot down over the Kola Peninsula.
The war ministry in Moscow first informed that three drones had attacked the region between 19.10 and 19.50 pm Moscow time. Reportedly, they were all shot down.
Only a couple of hours later, the ministry issued another post on its Telegram channel according to which one more drone had been shot down. The latter attack reportedly happened around 21.15 the same evening.
The Ukrainian attacks on the far northern region come as Moscow prepares to celebrate May 9, the country's victory day in the Second World War.
It can so far not be verified whether the drones actually were shot down. The Moscow war ministry regularly falsely report about its air defense successfully shooting down of enemy drones.
The Kola Peninsula is one of Russia's most militarised regions. The peninsula houses the Northern Fleet and there are several strategically important infrastructure objects that are regularly applied in the terror bombing of Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.
The airbase in Olenya is used by strategic bombers Tu-95 in missile raids on the neighboring country.
So far, little is known about the Ukrainian attacks. But the drones could be of the type Aeroprak A-22 Foxbat, an ultralight aircraft made in Ukraine.
Today's drone attacks on the Kola Peninsula are not the first of the kind.
In August and September 2024, there were at least two attacks on the military airport at Olenya. In one of the attacks, a local recorded a video of the shooting down of one of the drones only few hundred metres away from the strategically important air base.
In December 2024, there were two major explosions in the area between Murmansk City and the Northern Fleet base of Severomorsk. Regional authorities have provided no information about the blasts, but the Barents Observer soon found out that they occured in the air and that the site was located in the immediate vicinity of several key military installations.
