Ukraine launches one of the most extensive drone assaults against the Russian capital, Moscow

On Wednesday, Ukraine launched an attack on Moscow with at least 11 drones that were defeated by air defenses. Russian officials described the incident as one of the most significant drone assaults on the capital since the conflict in Ukraine commenced in February 2022.

The conflict, which was primarily a grinding artillery and drone battle across the fields, forests, and villages of eastern Ukraine, intensified on August 6 when Ukraine deployed thousands of soldiers into Russia’s western Kursk region.

Ukraine has been engaged in an escalating drone war against the refineries and airfields of Russia, the world’s second largest energy exporter, for several months. However, significant drone attacks on the Moscow region, which has a population of over 21 million, have been exceedingly rare.

According to the Russian defense ministry, 11 drones were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the Bryansk border region, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region, and two over the Kursk region.

“Some of the drones were shot down over the city of Podolsk,” stated Sergei Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow. Some 38 km (24 miles) south of the Kremlin is the metropolis in the Moscow region.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Sobyanin stated on the Telegram messaging app, “This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever.” “The layered defense of Moscow that was created made it possible to successfully repel all the attacks from the enemy UAVs.”

While President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese premier Li Qiang in the Kremlin, the capital’s cafes, restaurants, and shops, which have been meticulously shielded from the conflict, were bustling with little indication of concern.

The foiled drone attack, according to two Russian citizens who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, served as a testament to the current level of defense in Moscow. They also stated that Ukraine was “playing with fire” by launching attacks on Russia in both Kursk and Moscow.

In the meantime, Russia is making progress in eastern Ukraine, where it currently commands approximately 18% of the territory. It is also engaged in a battle to rebuff Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, which is the largest foreign attack on Russian territory since World War Two.

Unverified footage was broadcast by Russian media, depicting drones circling the Moscow region’s dawn sky before being fired down in a ball of flame by air defenses.

Russia’s aviation commission reported that Moscow’s airports, including Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky, temporarily suspended flights for four hours before resuming regular operations at 0330 GMT.

Sobyanin stated that no injuries or harm were reported in the aftermath of the attacks, according to preliminary information. In addition, the governor of the region, Alexander Bogomaz, wrote on Telegram that no casualties or harm were reported in the aftermath of the attack on Bryansk in the southwest of Russia.

Two drones were detonated over the Tula region, which is adjacent to the Moscow region to the north, according to the RIA state news agency of Russia. Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region in the southwestern region of Russia, reported that air defense forces annihilated a missile launched from Ukraine over the region. No injuries were reported.

In its statement listing destroyed Ukrainian aviation weapons, the Russian defense ministry did not mention either Tula or Rostov. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military announced that it had conducted a nocturnal strike on an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system located in the Rostov region.

The reports were unable to be independently verified by Reuters.

The drone assault on Moscow was comparable to a May 2023 attack in which at least eight drones were destroyed over the capital, a strike that Putin claimed was a Ukrainian attempt to intimidate and provoke Russia.

The front in the region where Ukraine has carved out at least 450 square km (175 square miles) of Russian territory is currently the site of intensive battles, according to Russian war bloggers in Kursk.