Moscow targeted by ‘massive’ Ukrainian drone attack

A damaged apartment building in a residential complex following the Moscow drone attack
TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Ukraine targeted Moscow in a “massive” overnight drone attack, authorities said Tuesday, with Russia’s defense ministry claiming it shot down 337 unmanned aerial vehicles across the country.
“The Defense Ministry’s air defense continues to repel a massive attack by enemy drones on Moscow,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram early Tuesday.
Russia’s military shot down 91 drones around the capital, the defense ministry said in a statement, adding it downed another 126 over the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
At least one person was killed and three more wounded in the southern suburbs of Moscow, according to the region’s governor, Andrei Vorobyov.
He added that drone debris damaged at least seven units in a residential building in another suburb in the southeast.
The attack on the Russian capital, hundreds of kilometers from the Ukraine border, comes ahead of an expected meeting Tuesday between top United States and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine is set to present the US with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under President Donald Trump has demanded concessions to end the three-year war.
Ukraine said Tuesday the drone attack launched on the Moscow region overnight should encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept an aerial ceasefire proposed by Kyiv.
“The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation, adding: “This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air.”
