Russia Claims to Have Intercepted 550 Ukrainian Drones, Attack in Moscow Kills Three
The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that its air defence systems successfully intercepted more than 550 unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) from Ukraine during a large-scale attack overnight.
“Air defence assets intercepted and destroyed 556 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles,” the Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement on social media on Sunday. The massive air strike was detected targeting more than a dozen regions in Russia.
In the Moscow region, the drone attack reportedly killed three people. Governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, confirmed that the fatal incident occurred as a result of a large-scale attack targeting areas around the Russian capital since early morning.
“A woman died after a UAV (drone) hit a private house. One person is trapped under the rubble,” wrote Governor Andrey Vorobyov on his Telegram channel. He added that the dawn attack also claimed the lives of two men.
According to Vorobyov, air defence forces have been working to repel the massive attack since 3 a.m. In addition to casualties, infrastructure facilities were also targeted, and at least four people were reported injured.
Meanwhile, in the city of Moscow, authorities reported that air defence systems successfully intercepted at least 74 drones overnight. The attacks in the urban area caused 12 injuries.
“Minor damage was recorded at the locations where drone debris fell,” said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin in a post on Telegram. Sobyanin added that a total of 120 drones were successfully intercepted in his region over the past 24 hours.
Although areas around the Russian capital are often targeted by unmanned aircraft, the centre of Moscow itself is rarely directly targeted.
The Russian authorities did not specify where the drones were launched from. However, Ukraine is known to regularly launch attacks into Russian territory targeting military and energy sites. Kyiv claims that this is in response to daily bombings by the Russian military that have been going on for more than four years.
The escalation of attacks between Moscow and Kyiv has increased after both sides conducted prisoner exchanges and ended a three-day ceasefire last Tuesday. Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also vowed to launch more retaliatory strikes, a day after a Russian attack in Kyiv killed 24 people. (AFP/Z-2)
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Details about casualties or the extent of damage are not yet available, said the source.
Experts will investigate what actually happened; however, explosions were recorded after external impacts.