Over 140 Ukrainian drones overnight targeted multiple Russian regions, including the capital Moscow and the surrounding areas, Russian officials reported Tuesday, in one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian soil in the 2 1/2-year war.
In the town of Ramenskoye just outside Moscow, drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. A woman was killed and three more people sustained injuries. Five residential buildings near one of those damaged have been evacuated as emergency services were handling 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 to other airports, 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 counted over a dozen drones heading toward Moscow that were shot down by air defenses as they were approaching the city.
Overall, Russia’s Defense 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 Sept. 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.