Russia declares attack foiled by Ukrainian drones and closing Moscow International Airport briefly

Russian authorities announced that they had foiled a nighttime attack carried out by Ukrainian drones on Moscow. The attack did not result in any casualties but briefly necessitated the closure of the capital's international airport.

Sergei Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, stated on Telegram that "Ukrainian drones launched an attack tonight." He added that "two office buildings in the city were slightly damaged. There were no casualties or injuries."

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the attack, conducted by three unmanned aerial vehicles, was thwarted. They reported that one of the drones was shot down, while the other two were jammed by electronic warfare systems and crashed into a building complex.

Russian news agency TASS quoted "navigation sources" stating that Vnukovo International Airport in southwest Moscow was temporarily closed to air traffic early on Sunday before flights resumed later.

Such attacks on Moscow and its outskirts, located approximately 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, have been rare since the conflict began in February 2022. However, aerial bombardments carried out by drones have increased in 2023.

Sunday's attack is the latest in a series of drone strikes, including an attack on the Kremlin and Russian cities near the Ukrainian border, which Moscow attributes to Kyiv.

In July, Russia claimed to have shot down five Ukrainian drones, leading to flight disruptions at Vnukovo Airport.

These attacks come just weeks after the launch of the Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming territories occupied by Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that these attacks "would have been impossible without the assistance provided to Kyiv's regime by the United States and its NATO allies."

On Friday, the Kremlin stated that Russian forces intercepted two Ukrainian missiles over southwestern Russia, and the debris from one of the missiles wounded at least 16 people in the nearby city of Taganrog, close to the Ukrainian border.

In Ukraine, at least one civilian was killed on Saturday evening in a Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy in the northeast. The National Police also reported five injuries from the attack, which targeted an educational center. One of the buildings of the educational facility was destroyed in the explosion.

In early July, a drone attack by Russia on a residential building in Sumy resulted in three deaths and 21 injuries.

Additionally, on Saturday, a man and a woman were killed in a Russian airstrike that hit the city of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine, according to local authorities.


AFP