Russia downs 34 drones in biggest attack on Moscow
MOSCOW
Russia downed 34 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow overnight, the city's mayor said Sunday, marking the largest attack on the capital since Russia began its offensive in Ukraine in 2022.
The attack forced the temporary closure of three Moscow airports, injured a 52-year-old woman, and set two homes on fire in the village of Stanovoye in the Moscow region, officials reported.
While the Ukrainian capital Kyiv is regularly targeted by massive Russian drone and missile strikes, attacks on Moscow are much less frequent.
"Thirty-two drones headed for Moscow have been destroyed," Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated on Telegram.
The drones were shot down over the Moscow region in the Ramenskoye, Kolomna, and Domodedovo districts.
A video published online by Russian media showed a house on fire, apparently in the Ramenskoye district.
In the previous largest drone attack on or near Moscow in September, a woman was killed in Ramenskoye—marking the first time someone has been killed in a Ukrainian attack near the capital since the start of the conflict.
In May 2023, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin, and that same year, there were several drone attacks on the Moscow City business district.
'Massive' attack
Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov on Sunday described the drone attack as "massive."
He said the injured woman had been hospitalized with "burns to her face, neck, and hands."
Russia's defense ministry said earlier that it had downed a total of 23 Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk, Rostov, Belgorod, and Kursk regions, which all border Ukraine and where drone strikes are more frequent.
Andrei Klychkov, the governor of Orlov region, which is closer to Moscow, reported that air defense had shot down a total of 10 drones over his region on Sunday.
Klychkov stated there had been no casualties.
Ukraine has said the attacks, which often target energy production sites, are a response to Russian bombings on its territory since fighting began in February 2022.
Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities on the night between Thursday and Friday last week killed at least one person and wounded more than three dozen others.
The air force reported that Moscow had launched five missiles, 92 drones, and glide bombs across Ukraine overnight. Its units downed four missiles and 62 drones, the air force said in a statement.
