A march was intercepted near Moscow, and reports reveal the role of a special Ukrainian unit in targeting Russia

 Russian authorities announced that their air defenses destroyed a drone in the Kaluga region, adjacent to the Moscow region, at dawn today, Monday, after a day full of attacks, the most prominent of which was the bombing of two supply bridges for the Russian forces.

The governor of Kaluga Province (southwest of Moscow) said - via the Telegram application - that the Russian defenses destroyed the march over the Verzikovsky region, and neither the citizens nor the infrastructure were affected.

Russian authorities hold Ukraine responsible for the drone attacks inside Russia, which have recently escalated.

On the other hand, Western reports talked about the role of a unit of the Ukrainian Special Forces called "Alpha", which directs the drones to carry out operations behind the lines of the Russian forces and support the Ukrainian counterattack.

Washington Post newspaper - which conducted interviews with teams affiliated with "Alpha" in southeastern Ukraine - said that this unit is currently supporting the army's efforts to achieve the main goal of its counterattack at this stage, which is to cut off the land corridor between Russia and Crimea.

Unit Alpha is affiliated with Ukraine's main internal security service, which was established in 1994.

Washington Post quoted a Ukrainian official, who asked not to be named, that the Internal Security Service was responsible for recent drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The head of this apparatus had confirmed - recently - that its members were behind the attack on the Crimean Bridge last year.

In a related context, two Ukrainian missile strikes yesterday targeted two bridges in the Crimea and Kherson province in southern Ukraine.

The first strike targeted the Chongar Bridge in Crimea. "Some of the missiles were shot down by the air defense forces. The platform of the car bridge was damaged and repair work has begun," said pro-Russian governor Sergei Aksyonov, adding, "There were no casualties."

The second strike targeted a bridge near the city of Gnechisk in Kherson, wounding one person and damaging a gas pipeline, according to what an official of the pro-Russian local administration announced, pointing out that 9 Ukrainian missiles out of 12 were shot down.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian General Staff announced this morning that Russian forces targeted the country's territory with 30 missiles and 52 raids during the past 24 hours.

The Ukrainian General Staff added that the Russian forces also fired 75 projectiles, killing and injuring several civilians.

For its part, the Public Prosecutor of Kherson Province announced today that a woman was killed and 7 people were injured in a Russian bombing of a residential neighborhood, which damaged several buildings.

On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces launched an attack with long-range air and sea weapons on Ukrainian military sites in the west of the country, including air bases. She added that the attacks hit their targets accurately.

The Russian ministry said that "air bases of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were targeted near the towns of Starokostyantyniv in Khmelnytsky District and Dubno in Rivne Province."

Khmelnytskyi province - located in the west of the country, hundreds of kilometers from the front - has often been hit by Russian strikes. Note that it includes a large Ukrainian air base.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his videotaped night speech yesterday that advanced air defense systems, such as the American "Patriot" systems and the German "Iris-T", have proven to be "very effective and have already yielded great results."

Zelensky added that Ukraine thwarted "a large part" of the Russian attacks during the past week, including shooting down 65 missiles of various types and 178 attack drones, including 87 "Shahids".

Source: Agencies