Ukraine early on Sunday (Nov 9) launched a major drone assault on Moscow targeting the Russian capital with at least 25 drones, in what has been described as one of the largest Ukrainian attacks on the city since the conflict began.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the drone assault and said that all the drones were downed.
These strikes come as Russia hosted diplomats and officials from approximately 50 African nations at a ministerial conference in Sochi on the Black Sea.
Russia destroys Ukrainian drones
Mayor Sobyanin, in a post on Telegram, said, “In all, 25 drones were destroyed”. These drones, he said, were heading for Moscow’s Ramenskoye and Kolomensky districts and Domodedovo city to the southwest — a region with a population of more than 21 million, as per AFP.
Officially, no casualties or damage have been reported. However, reports on social media suggest some structural damage in places.
“According to preliminary information, there is no damage or casualties at the site of the fall of the debris,” Sobyanin added on the Telegram messaging app. “Emergency services are on the sites.”
The drone attack temporarily halted operations at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsia, in a statement, said that “to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, temporary restrictions have been introduced on the operation of the Domodedovo and Zhukovo airports,” starting at 0530 GMT. However, it did not specify how long the restrictions would remain in place.
Ukrainian officials have previously indicated these strikes that often target Russian energy production sites are retaliatory responses to Moscow’s bombardments on Ukrainian energy and infrastructure sites since the war’s onset.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian drones reportedly set fire to several non-residential buildings in Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions. Local authorities claim to have neutralised 17 drones over Bryansk.
(With inputs from agencies)
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