Drone team has bombed tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and ammunition dumps but still Russians are on the move

At night, Sasha and his drone team go in search of the enemy. They set off in a dirt-covered vehicle towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariinka, occupied by Russia since December. They unload a large drone. And then they fly it in darkness across the frontline, above a ghostly landscape of fields and ruined houses, towards the twinkling city of Donetsk. The drone carries a deadly arsenal of six grenades.

Sasha, who uses the call sign “Tourist”, has bombed more than 100 pieces of Russian military equipment. The list includes tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns, as well as hidden ammunition dumps. Russian howitzers are another key target. Recently his special operations unit forestalled a large-scale attack. It spotted seven Russian tanks massed for a dawn raid and disabled two of them.

Russian airbase said to be among targets and Ukrainian civilian killed by drone debris in Odesa

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Russia and Ukraine launched more than a dozen drones at each other’s territory for a second day on Sunday, one of which apparently targeted a Russian military airport, while a Ukrainian civilian was killed after drone debris slammed into his house near the Black Sea.

At least 35 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over three regions in south-western Russia, the Russian defence ministry said in a post on the messaging app Telegram.

Plant in Sergiev Posad previously made military equipment but officials downplay speculation blast was result of Ukrainian drone attack

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An explosion has ripped through a factory said to house fireworks in the Moscow region, injuring at least 40 people and raising questions as to whether the blast was the result of an accident or of a targeted attack.

The explosion took place at about 10:40am local time on Wednesday at a factory workshop in Sergiev Posad, about 40 miles (65km) from central Moscow. Video of the blast showed a mushroom cloud of smoke rising into the air over the Zagorsk optical mechanical plant, which in the past has manufactured night-vision goggles and other imaging equipment for the Russian military. Factory officials ordered a “total evacuation” of the area.

Footage appears to show a strike on Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship, which transports troops and military hardware

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A Russian landing ship was struck and disabled in the country’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk by an unmanned Ukrainian boat, known as a sea drone, Kyiv said, as onboard camera footage appeared to confirm the success of the night attack.

The 112-metre Olenegorsky Gornyak from Russia’s Northern Fleet, which has been used to transport troops and military hardware into occupied Ukrainian ports, was said to have been sufficiently damaged to have been put out of combat action.