Russia shoots down 4 US-made missiles over Belgorod region

Russia's defense ministry said its forces have shot down four US-made missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

“Four American ‘HARM’ anti-radar missiles were shot down in the airspace over the Belgorod region," Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement on social media.

Meanwhile, Moscow launched a fresh drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday.

The Ukrainian authorities claimed that their air-defense systems shot down most of the drones launched by Russia on Monday.

"During the air alert, 23 enemy UAVs were recorded in the sky above the capital. Air defense destroyed 18 drones," the Kyiv city military administration said on social media.

According to Kyiv's civil administration, an air raid siren was initially sounded at 1:56 am (2356 GMT) and lasted for just over three hours. A second siren was heard at 5:24 am (0324 GMT) and was called off within a half hour.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that "explosions" had rocked the district of Shevchenkivskyi in the capital's central and the Solomianskyi district in the west.

He said the attack inflicted damage to critical infrastructure facilities, but there were no known casualties.

Ukrainian energy operator DTEK said emergency power cuts will be enforced in Kyiv following the attack.

Moscow says the strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are a response to an explosion on the Kerch bridge linking the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula.

The developments came as, on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay his first visit to Minsk since 2019, where he will meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. 

Ukraine war started in late February with Moscow, saying that it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kyiv.

Ever since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's Western allies, including the European Union and the US, have been supplying large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kyiv and slapping Russia with a slew of sanctions. Moscow says such measures will only prolong the war.