Air defenses have downed at least one hostile UAV headed for Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Sunday morning, praising the Defense Ministry for preventing yet another attempted “terrorist attack” on the Russian capital.
“At night, an attempt was made to fly a drone to Moscow from the southern direction. It was stopped by the air defense forces,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram at 4:34am local time, without clarifying the exact location where the unmanned device was intercepted.
The Defense Ministry said the hostile UAV was detected over the Stupino district of Moscow Region at around 4:00am. It was suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed in a deserted area, causing no damage or injuries.
Moscow's southwestern and southern international airports – Vnukovo and Domodedovo – briefly suspended flights as a precaution at the time of the incident.
Around the same time, some 450 kilometers south of the capital, an unmanned aircraft fell on the roof of the railway station in the city of Kursk, shattering several windows, causing a small fire, and injuring at least five people with shards of glass. It remains unclear whether Sunday morning's incidents were part of the same coordinated drone attack.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has ramped up its attempts to target Moscow with drone strikes, which have been mostly unsuccessful. The Russian border regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod have also been frequently shelled by artillery and attacked by drones since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
On Friday morning, Ukraine once again targeted the Russian capital’s business district, with at least one drone intercepted and downed near the high-rises of Moscow City, causing no casualties or major damage.