A Ukrainian S-200 missile was intercepted and destroyed mid-air in Kaluga Region, southwest of Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Friday.
According to the MOD, the air defenses “thwarted an attempt by the Kiev authorities to conduct terrorist attacks on civilian sites on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
The Soviet-era S-200 missiles were originally designed to strike airborne targets. However, Russian officials have warned that Ukraine has repurposed some of them for use against targets on the ground.
According to reports on Telegram, loud explosions were heard in Obninsk, a city roughly 100km (62 miles) southwest of Moscow.
Two of Moscow’s three main airports – Domodedovo and Vnukovo – have been briefly shut down, TASS news agency reported, citing aviation services.
Hours later, the Defense Ministry said that 42 drones attacked Crimea overnight, nine of which were destroyed in the air, while the rest veered off course due to signal-jamming and crashed.
Ukraine has stepped up drone and missile attacks deep inside Russian territory in recent months, as its much-anticipated ground offensive has failed to yield significant results.
According to the Russian military, earlier this month, Kiev’s forces fired an S-200 missile into the bridge that connects Crimea with mainland Russia, but the projectile was shot down before reaching its target. The MOD said that a missile of this type was also used in the July 28 strike on the southern Russian city of Taganrog. More than 20 people were injured in the attack.