Ukraine launched more than 140 drone attacks on Russia overnight, killing a woman near Moscow, grounding flights and paralyzing air security in several parts of the country, officials said Tuesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had shot down 144 Ukrainian drones overnight – “72 UAVs in the Bryansk region, 20 in the Moscow region, 14 in the Kursk region, 13 in the Tula region” – and 25 more in five other parts of the country.
Moscow regional governor Andrey Vorobyov said in a Telegram post that a 46-year-old woman was killed and several people were injured in the attacks.
But he said that in the earlier statement he had talked about the death of a 9-year old child, but it has not been confirmed yet.
As a result of the attack, four airports serving Moscow — including major hubs Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo — canceled or delayed flights on Tuesday morning, according to state media.
“The enemy carried out a large-scale terrorist attack” in Bryansk, bordering Ukraine, regional governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said on Telegram, adding: “There were no casualties or damage, all attacks were repelled”.
Ukraine and Russia regularly launch nightly drone attacks on each other’s territory.
Progress in the East
The latest spate of drone strikes comes as Moscow claims to be making steady gains since its invasion of eastern Ukraine more than 30 months ago, with Kiev’s forces pushing into Russia’s Kursk region.
Russia said on Monday its forces had captured another Ukrainian village, Memrik, in what was seen as a step towards reaching Pokrovsk, a logistics hub controlled by Kiev about 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.
Pokrovsk lies at the crossroads of a major road that supplies Ukrainian troops and towns on the eastern border and has long been a target of Moscow’s forces.
Kiev launched an offensive on Kursk on Aug. 6 aimed at forcing Russia to redeploy troops advancing east, but Moscow appears to have stepped up its attacks there.
Moscow has also continued air strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks, including attacks on key energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Three Russian drones were shot down overnight over Ukraine’s Sumy island, the regional military administration said on Tuesday, while air defences were also activated around Kiev.
The military administration in the capital later said that “there would be no consequences following the Russian UAV attack”.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Monday condemned Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities.
Turk told the UN Human Rights Council that the Ukrainian people are suffering “persistent attacks by the Russian Federation on civilian facilities such as hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated targeting of energy infrastructure.”
“I worry about Ukrainians in this coming winter,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
