Russia says it destroys 158 drones in major Ukrainian drone attack

(Reuters) - Ukraine launched a major overnight drone attack on Russia, disrupting flights early on Wednesday in the southern part of the country and forcing the evacuation of residents from dozens of apartments in the Rostov region, Russian officials said.

The Russian defence ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that its air defence units destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the southern Rostov region.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but residents from 48 apartments in a building in the Rostov town of Aksay were evacuated due to the threat from a possible detonation of a fallen drone, the region's acting governor said on Telegram.

The defence ministry said that 69 of the drones were destroyed over the Krasnodar region in Russia's North Caucasus and 15 over North Ossetia–Alania in the same region of southern Russia.

The ministry only reports the number of drones destroyed, not how many were launched.

Russia's civil aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said that several airports in Russia's south were closed early on Wednesday to ensure air safety.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about the attacks. Both sides say their strikes are aimed at destroying infrastructure that is key to overall war efforts.

Kyiv also says that its attacks are in response to Moscow's continued bombing of Ukraine since the beginning of the war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion of the country more than three years ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office in January after pledging he would end the war in 24 hours, has sought to broker an end to the conflict. The U.S. in late March said it had agreed with Russia and Ukraine two ceasefire accords, including one that would ban strikes on each other's energy infrastructure.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Kate Mayberry)