Ukraine unleashes drones wave
MORE than 140 Ukrainian drones targeted multiple Russian regions overnight into yesterday. They included the capital, Moscow, and the surrounding areas, Russian officials reported.
It was one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian soil in the two- and- a- half- year war.
In the town of Ramenskoye, just outside Moscow, drones hit two multi- storey residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov said. A woman was killed and three other people were injured.
Five residential buildings near one of those damaged were evacuated as emergency services handled drone debris, Vorobyov said. The attack also prompted the authorities to temporarily shut down three airports just outside Moscow – Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. A total of 48 flights were diverted elsewhere, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia.
In Moscow, drone debris fell on a private house on the outskirts of the city – but no- one was hurt, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
He said he counted more than a dozen drones heading towards Moscow which were shot down by air defences as they were approaching the city.
Overall, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it “intercepted and destroyed” 144 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, including those on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia.
It is the second massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia this month. On September 1, the Russian military said it intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones over a dozen Russian regions in what Russian media described as the biggest Ukrainian drone barrage since the start of the war.