- 11 drones heading to Moscow were destroyed
- No damage, no reports of injuries
- The attack comes as Moscow battles a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk.
Ukraine launched one of the largest drone attacks on Moscow on Wednesday, with Russian air defense units destroying 11 drones flying toward the capital, Moscow’s mayor said.
Podolsk Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that some drones were destroyed over the city. The city, located in the Moscow region, is about 38 kilometers south of the Kremlin.
“This is one of the largest ever attempts to attack Moscow using drones,” Sobyanin said in a message via the Telegram app at 04:43 (01:43 GMT).
The attack comes as Russia – as it advances into eastern Ukraine – struggles to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region, two weeks after they stormed across Russia’s western border in the biggest Russian invasion since World War II.
Sobyanin said that according to preliminary information, there were no reports of injuries or damage following the attacks.
Ukraine has launched several drones at Moscow in recent months, without causing significant damage.
But Wednesday’s attack appears to be larger than the one in May 2023, when at least eight drones were destroyed over the capital in an attack that President Vladimir Putin said was an attempt by kyiv to intimidate and provoke Russia.
Russian officials rarely reveal the full extent of the attacks, speaking only of drones destroyed by air defense units.
Ukraine and Russia rarely reveal the full extent of damage caused by their attacks, unless they damage residential or civilian infrastructure, or kill civilians.
Wednesday’s attack on Moscow was part of a broader drone attack launched by Ukraine against Russia, and the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense units also destroyed 23 drones over the Bryansk border region.
The ministry said six drones were destroyed over Belgorod, another Russian region bordering Ukraine, three over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region to the northeast, and two over the restive Kursk region.
There were no reports of casualties or damage following the attack in the border region of Bryansk in southwestern Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, the region’s governor, wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s official RIA news agency also reported that two drones were destroyed over the Tula region, which borders the Moscow region to the north.
In another context, Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region in southwestern Russia, said air defense forces destroyed a missile launched by Ukraine over the region, with no casualties reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not mention the cities of Tula and Rostov in its statement on the list of destroyed air weapons.
Reuters could not independently verify these reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
In recent months, kyiv has stepped up its airstrikes on Russian territory, saying they are aimed at destroying infrastructure essential to Moscow’s war effort. It also says its attacks come in response to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory.
(This story has been republished to correct typos.)
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Prepared by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne; Edited by Michael Perry.
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