Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, diverting flights from three of the city’s main airports and wounding at least five people.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian air defenses destroyed another 50 drones over other regions in western Russia on Sunday.
The ministry said: “An attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using drones on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted.”
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports diverted at least 36 flights, but then resumed operations. The Defense Ministry said five people were injured in the Moscow region.
Moscow and the surrounding region, with a population of at least 21 million, is one of the largest urban areas in Europe, along with Istanbul.
Ukraine said that Russia, for its part, launched a record number of 145 drones overnight. Kyiv said its air defenses shot down 62 of them. Ukraine also said it attacked an arms arsenal in Russia’s Bryansk region, which reported downing 14 drones in the area.
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An unverified video posted on Russian Telegram channels showed drones flying over the horizon.
the 2-1/2 year old war Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be the final act after Moscow’s forces advanced at the fastest pace since the first days of the war and Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States.
Trump, who takes office in January, said during his election campaign that he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours, but he provided few details about how he would go about doing so.
Kyiv itself is a frequent target Mass drone strikes Russian forces have tried to respond to their larger eastern neighbor with repeated drone attacks against oil refineries, airports and even Russian strategic early warning radar stations.
While the thousand-kilometre front bore much resemblance to World War I trenches and artillery warfare for most of the war, one of the biggest innovations of the conflict was drone warfare.
Both Moscow and Kiev have sought to purchase and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and look for new ways to destroy them – from using farmers’ rifles to advanced electronic jamming systems.
Russia has developed a series of electronic “umbrellas” over Moscow, with additional advanced internal layers above strategic buildings, and a complex network of air defenses to shoot down drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.
Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into lethal weapons as their production increases. Soldiers on both sides have reported a deep fear of drones — and both sides have used harrowing video footage of deadly drone strikes in their propaganda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the brutality of war, described Ukrainian drone attacks targeting civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants as “terrorism” and vowed to respond.
Moscow, Russia’s richest city, boomed during the war, supported by the largest increase in defense spending since the Cold War.
There was no sign of panic on the streets of Moscow. Muscovites walked their dogs as bells of onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches rang throughout the capital.
