Fact Check: Did Russia Intercept Ukrainian Drones Over Krasnodar Region Overnight?

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the Krasnodar region on Russia’s Black Sea coast in the early hours of Monday, April 15, but so far there has been no evidence to substantiate the claims.

“Over the past night, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using aircraft-type UAVs against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped.

“Duty air defense systems intercepted a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Krasnodar Territory,” the official press release read, providing no further details nor material evidence.

Russian news outlets, including Interfax Russia, also released articles that were based on the official release with no further evidence provided other than the Krasnodar Bloknot, a regional newspaper, that illustrated the story with a photo of a quadcopter apparently dropping an item of ordnance. It said the photo had been sourced from the press service of the Krasnodar regional administration.

However, a reverse photo search on Google has shown the same photo had been previously used by the outlet in June 2023, meaning the outlet likely reused the photo for illustrative purposes without placing a disclaimer. A quadcopter of the type shown also does not have the range to fly hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine to Russia’s Krasnodar region. 

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However, Warsaw might be divided in its stance on the idea with the foreign minister calling it a “constitutional duty” while its deputy prime minister worrying it could drag Poland into the war.

Meanwhile, a local Telegram channel in the Krasnodar region also reported the incident and attached a photo of another type of aerial vehicle. Google reverse image searches also returned evidence the image had been used numerous times since 2023.

Screenshot of the Krasnodarkray Telegram post of the reported drone attack.

Kyiv Post examined several Krasnodar-based Telegram channels without identifying any reports of alleged sightings of the drones by local residents.

Kyiv Post reached out to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence directorate (HUR) to confirm whether they had launched drones into the Krasnodar region, but its representatives said they do not comment on such issues.

Due to the lack of evidence at the time of publication, Kyiv Post has concluded that either the reported drone impacted or was intercepted over an unpopulated area for which and Russian authorities withheld visual evidence, or the drone attack and interception did not happen.