Russia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have destroyed three Ukrainian drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.

One drone was destroyed late on Friday and two others early on Saturday, according to the ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

The Kerch bridge, a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

The Kerch bridge
The Kerch bridge (Alamy/PA)

An explosion in October, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead. Another attack in July killed a couple and seriously wounded their daughter, and left a span of the roadway hanging perilously.

The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it annexed in 2014.

One civilian was killed and two wounded during the shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Two Ukrainian drones attacked the region’s Valuysky district, causing minor damage to a home and car, while another drone was intercepted by Russian air defence in the Grayvoronsky district.

A woman was wounded on Saturday during shelling of a village in the Kursk region, also bordering Ukraine, regional governor Roman Starovoit said. He blamed Ukraine for the shelling.

Ukrainian authorities, who generally avoid commenting on attacks on Russian soil, did not say whether they launched the attacks. Drone strikes and shelling in border regions are a regular occurrence.

Meanwhile, four people were wounded in shelling of the eastern city of Donetsk, Moscow-installed mayor Aleksei Kulemzin said.

Donetsk is the regional capital of the eastern Ukrainian province of the same name, which was among the four Ukrainian provinces illegally annexed by Russia in September. The city came under the control of Russia-backed separatists in 2014.

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that Russia had launched four missile strikes and 39 air strikes over the previous 24 hours, in addition to 42 attacks from multiple rocket launchers.

One person was killed and two were wounded during shelling of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to Governor Oleh Prokudin.

Further north, a 32-year-old police investigator was killed and two other people were wounded when shells hit the town of Seredyna-Buda in the north-east Sumy region.

Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said the anti-aircraft defence in the central Ukrainian city, which is President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, had successfully thwarted a strike, without specifying the nature of the attack.

UK military officials said on Saturday that Russia is risking splitting its forces in an attempt to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough in Ukraine’s south.

According to British intelligence, Ukrainian forces continued to take offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, with units reaching the first Russian defensive line.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday that Kyiv’s troops were advancing in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks next week, the Kremlin announced on Friday, just over six weeks after Moscow broke off a deal brokered by Ankara and the UN that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets safely despite the 18-month war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan will meet on Monday in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.