Ukraine on Wednesday fired 11 drones over Moscow, which Russia said it shot down in one of the biggest attacks yet against the capital, while Ukrainian security forces reported intercepting 50 Russian drones and missiles.
The attacks on Moscow come amid a Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region – which Kiev has said is aimed at ending the campaign launched by Russia in February 2022 on “fair” terms.
The Defence Ministry said “eleven drones were destroyed” in and around Moscow.
“This is the largest attempt to attack Moscow with drones ever,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
In total, 45 Ukrainian drones were destroyed by Russian air defense systems, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Sobyanin said in an earlier post that no damage or casualties had been reported.
Drone attacks on Moscow are rare, with Russia saying in May it had shot down a drone outside the capital, prompting a ban on flights to the city’s two main airports for less than an hour.
According to Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk, a total of 72 aerial targets were detected over Ukraine on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
He said in a post on Telegram that 50 drones and one guided missile were shot down.
Kyiv was one of the locations targeted.
“The enemy continues to attack our territory with drones. The air strikes lasted for more than nine hours, all night and until the morning,” Kiev’s military administration said on Telegram.
It said debris from the shot down targets damaged a private home and knocked out power lines.
Since August 6, Ukraine has launched an unprecedented cross-border attack into Russia’s Kursk region, where it claims more than 80 settlements are under its control.
Kiev has repeatedly targeted oil and gas facilities in Russia, some hundreds of kilometres from its borders, since the conflict began in 2022, in what it has called “justified” retaliation for massive attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian drones attacked an oil storage facility in Russia’s southern Rostov region on Sunday, causing a massive fire, the local governor said.
According to Russian media, fires continued to rage in the city of Proletarsk on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his forces for attacking oil plants in Russia, saying the strikes would help bring a “just end” to the conflict.
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