Vladimir Putin's helicopter was targeted by Ukrainian drones as he visited the Kursk region in a surprise visit last week, a Russian military official has claimed. The alleged attack took place as the Russian president visited the border region for the first time since Moscow claimed it had repelled Ukrainian forces from the area last month.

The report, quoting Yuri Dashkin, Commander of the Air Defence division in Kursk Oblast, said that the Ukrainian military launched an unprecedented attack at the aircraft, with Putin onboard.

Ukraine claims to have destroyed one-third of Russian Long Range Aviation’s cruise missile-carrying strategic bombers after an audacious drone raid deep inside Russian territory. Drones fitted inside wooden huts mounted on the back of articulated trucks were smuggled to within a few kilometers of at...