Russia thwarts drone approaching Moscow: Mayor

MOSCOW

Russian air defences destroyed a drone approaching Moscow, the city's mayor said on Friday, a day after a similar attack on the capital.

Moscow has been targeted by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks after Kyiv vowed in July to "return" the conflict to Russia.

Air defences near the Lyubertsy district on the southeast outskirts of the capital "thwarted another attempt to fly a drone to Moscow," Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, without naming an attacker.

"There were no casualties or damage, according to initial reports. Emergency services are on the scene," he added.

Air traffic at Moscow's Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports was suspended, according to a Telegram post by the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia.

On Thursday air defences in the Voskresensky district, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) from Moscow, destroyed a Ukrainian drone approaching the capital.

Air defences also destroyed a drone approaching Moscow on Monday, as well as two others over the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine.

They destroyed another drone over the Bryansk region on Friday, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram, naming Ukraine as the attacker.

"An aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down over the Bryansk region. There were no casualties or damage," he said, adding that emergency services were on the scene.

In the eastern Kursk region, the town of Kurchatov was attacked by two Ukrainian drones on Friday, but it was not clear whether the weapons hit their targets.

"An administrative building and a residential building were damaged," regional governor Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram, adding that investigators were headed to the scene to assess the extent of the damage.

Kurchatov is about 100 kilometres from Russia's border with Ukraine.