Russian air defenses have prevented “one of the largest” Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow, the city’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, has said. There were no reports of casualties or damage on the ground, he added.
Sobyanin reported the destruction of the first UAV near the city of Podolsk, some 40km south of Moscow, at around 3am on Wednesday. Shortly afterwards, he stated that two other drones had been shot down in the area, adding that preliminary information indicated there were no casualties or damage.
In a series of follow-up posts over the course of about an hour, Sobyanin said several more drones had been destroyed, taking the total number to ten. He did not specify where exactly the UAVs had been shot down or what the target of the raid had been.
“The existing multi-layered defense of Moscow against enemy UAVs allowed to successfully repel all attacks... This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow with drones ever. We continue to monitor the situation,” Sobyanin said.
Several hours later, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that “the Kiev regime” had attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” using drones, adding that 11 UAVs had been shot down over Moscow Region alone. The ministry noted that a total of 45 drones were destroyed over Russia overnight, with the bulk taken down over the border Bryansk Region.
Ukraine has periodically tried to target the Russian capital – located more than 500km from the front line – with drone raids, although most of the UAVs have been neutralized short of their targets. Some of the strikes were aimed at government buildings and Moscow’s IT quarter.
One of the most high-profile attacks took place in May 2023, when Russia accused Ukraine of launching two drones at the Kremlin to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader was not present in the building at the time.