Moscow, October 17 (Sputnik) – Orel Oblast Governor Andrei Krechkov announced on his Telegram channel that three drones were shot down over Orel Oblast overnight, with no casualties.

At the end of 2021, the situation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine intensified. Kiev and Western countries expressed concern about Russia’s massing of troops near the Ukrainian border. In early 2022, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, which were self-proclaimed after the 2014 Ukrainian coup, said that Kiev was preparing to invade and asked Russian President Putin to recognize the two countries. Russian President Putin signed a presidential decree recognizing the two countries on February 21, and announced on the 24th that he had decided to take special military action against Ukraine. The Kremlin said the goal of the action was to demilitarize Ukraine. Western countries then imposed a number of sanctions on Russia, involving national debt, banking and other aspects.