Ukraine on Tuesday hit the Moscow region with the largest-ever drone strike on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman, destroying dozens of homes and forcing about 50 flights to be diverted from airports around Moscow.
Russia, the world’s largest nuclear power, said it destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones scattered across the Moscow region, which has a population of more than 21 million, and another 124 drones in eight other regions.
At least one person was killed near Moscow, according to Russian authorities. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and nearly 50 flights were diverted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the drone strike was yet another reminder of the true nature of Ukraine’s political leadership, which he said was made up of enemies of Russia.
“It is not possible that night attacks in residential areas can be connected to a military action,” Peskov said.
“The Kiev regime continues to demonstrate its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue with the special military operation to protect ourselves from such actions,” he said, using the expression Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.
Kiev said that Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, attacked it overnight with 46 drones, 38 of which were destroyed.
Drone strikes against Russia have damaged high-rise buildings in the Ramenskoye district of Moscow region, setting apartments ablaze, residents told Reuters.
A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in Ramenskoye, Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
Residents said they woke up to explosions and fires.
“I looked out the window and saw a fireball,” district resident Alexander Li told Reuters. “The window was blown out by the shock wave.”
Georgy, a resident who declined to give his last name, said he heard a drone buzzing outside his building in the early hours of the morning.
“I opened the curtain and the drone hit the building right in front of my eyes, I saw everything,” he said. “I grabbed my family and we ran outside.”
Ramenskoye district, about 50 km southeast of the Kremlin, has a population of about a quarter of a million people, according to official figures.
More than 70 drones were also shot down in Russia’s Bryansk region and dozens in other regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said. There were no reports of damage or casualties in the region.
As Russia advances into eastern Ukraine, Kiev is bringing the war to Russia with a cross-border attack on Russia’s western Kursk region, beginning on August 6, and by carrying out increasingly large-scale drone strikes on Russian soil.
WAR WITH DRONES
The war was largely an artillery and drone war along the 1,000km of heavily fortified front line in southern and eastern Ukraine, involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
Moscow and Kiev have sought to purchase and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them, from using rifles to advanced electronic jamming systems.
Both sides have transformed cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons, while also ramping up their own production and assembly to attack targets including tanks and energy infrastructure such as refineries and airports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the rigors of war, has called Ukrainian drone strikes on civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants “terrorism” and vowed to respond.
Moscow and other major Russian cities were largely isolated by the war.
Russia itself has struck Ukraine with thousands of missiles and drones over the past two and a half years, killing thousands of civilians, destroying much of the country’s energy system, and damaging commercial and residential property across the country.
Ukraine says it has the right to retaliate deeply against Russia, even as Kiev’s Western backers have said they do not want a direct clash between Russia and the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), led by the United States.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Tuesday’s strikes. Both sides deny targeting civilians.
Tuesday’s attack follows drone strikes launched by Ukraine in early September, primarily targeting Russian energy and power plants.
Authorities in the Tula region, which borders Moscow region to the north, said debris from the drone fell into a fuel and energy plant, but that the plant’s “technological process” was not affected.
Source: Terra
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