MOSCOW - Several Ukrainian units are retreating from the Kursk region, local media reported Wednesday, citing a senior official of the Russian Defense Ministry.

"The enemy has been stopped and has suffered heavy losses. Essentially ... some of the units are being withdrawn in order to be sent to other areas," said Apty Alaudinov, deputy head of the main military political directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, commander of the Akhmat special forces.

The fighting continues in several settlements on the outskirts, which are currently under Russian control, he added.

The Ukrainian armed forces started an offensive in southern Russia's Kursk region on Aug 6. The Russian Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that Ukraine has so far lost over 4,400 military personnel and 65 tanks during fighting in the region.

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Also on Wednesday, the defense ministry said Russia destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, including 11 over the Moscow region.

There were 11 drones shot down over the territory of the Moscow region, one of the largest drone attacks on Moscow ever, Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Another 23 drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region, six were shot down over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region, the defense ministry said.

Meanwhile, three counterattacks of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Avdeyevka direction were disrupted overnight, the ministry said.

Some of the drones were destroyed over the city of Podolsk, Sobyanin said. The city in the Moscow region is some 38 kms south of the Kremlin.

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"The layered defense of Moscow that was created made it possible to successfully repel all the attacks from the enemy UAVs," Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app in the early hours of Wednesday.

Moscow's airports Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky limited flights for four hours but were restarted normal operations from 0330 GMT, Russia's aviation watchdog said.

Sobyanin said that according to preliminary information, there were no injuries or damage reported in the aftermath of the attacks. There were also no casualties or damage reported in the aftermath of the attack on Bryansk in Russia's southwest, the governor of the region Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

Russia's RIA state news agency reported that two drones were destroyed over the Tula region, which borders the Moscow region to its north. Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region in Russia's southwest, said air defense forces destroyed a Ukraine-launched missile over the region, with no injuries reported.

With Reuters inputs