Drones shot down over three Russian regions, Siberian court sentences journalist to 5.5 years in prison for spreading ‘false information’ about the military

Novaya-Europe's roundup

It’s day 561 of the war in Ukraine. One person has been injured in a Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s Odesa region, while the Russian authorities reported downing drones over three Russian regions.

Mikhail Afanasyev, a journalist from the Siberian region of Khakassia, has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for reporting on National Guardsmen who refused deployment to the war in Ukraine. Afanasyev was found guilty of “spreading false information about the Russian military”.

Novaya-Europe’s news round-up will brief you on the main developments overnight.

One person injured as Russian drones strike Ukraine’s Odesa region

The Russian military has attacked the southern part of Ukraine’s Odesa region with kamikaze drones, regional governor Oleh Kiper reported on Thursday.

One person suffered minor injuries in the attack, which also damaged several infrastructure facilities, according to Kiper.

The Russian strike was the fourth launched at the Odesa region’s Izmail district in the past five days, Kiper said, adding that response teams were working at the site.

Drones shot down over Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk and Rostov regions

Two Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia’s southern Rostov region at around 3 AM, the local governor Vasily Golubev reported on Thursday.

One of the drones came down in the centre of the regional capital Rostov-on-Don, crashing into a building facing the southern military district headquarters. Three other buildings had their windows smashed, and several vehicles were also damaged.

Elsewhere in the Rostov region, another drone attacked the city of Bataysk, injuring a local man and damaging a non-residential two-storey building.

A further three drones were downed over the southern Bryansk region, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz reported on Thursday. One of the drones crashed into the centre of the region’s capital, while two more were downed while approaching the city.

“Our train station was damaged, as were several vehicles parked in front of it,” Bogomaz said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported a drone had been downed near the Moscow region town of Ramenskoye, adding that no injuries or damage had been reported.

The drone’s debris fell in the vicinity of Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport, according to the Mash Telegram channel. Russia’s Air Transport Agency said that the capital’s airports were working normally again after temporary flight restrictions were introduced earlier on Thursday.

Journalist jailed for 5.5 years for report on Russian National Guardsmen refusing to go to war

A court in the Siberian city of Abakan has sentenced a local journalist to five -and-a-half years in prison for “spreading false information about the Russian military”, the regional prosecutor’s office reported on Thursday.

Mikhail Afanasyev, an editor at regional news outlet New Focus who has been in pre-trial detention since April last year, was also banned from posting materials online and publishing stories in the media for 2.5 years after his release.

The story that led to the criminal case featured 11 local members of Russia’s National Guard who refused to be deployed to the war in Ukraine due to the poor provision of equipment and what they believed to be the ill-advised decisions made by their commanding officers.