At least three people were killed near Moscow after Ukraine targeted Russia with more than 500 drones, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Sunday, citing local and military officials.
TASS news agency cited information released by Moscow’s mayor as saying the attack on Moscow was “the largest in a year” and followed a major Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev earlier in the week. According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 25 people were killed and dozens injured in the attacks.
A woman was killed overnight Sunday after a drone hit a house in Khimki, a town northwest of the Russian capital, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced, adding that others were trapped under rubble.
Two men were killed when debris from a drone fell on a house under construction in Mytish, northeast of Moscow, Sobyanin said, adding that a total of 12 people were injured in Moscow, including a refinery construction worker.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 556 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Sobyanin said air defense forces shot down more than 120 drones headed for Moscow and its suburbs.
Falling debris also set a house on fire in the village of Subbotino, and four people were injured when several residential blocks in the western town of Istria were destroyed by drones, TASS reported.
Some debris from the drone fell on the grounds of Sheremetyevo Airport, Russia’s busiest aviation hub, the facility said, but no injuries or damage were reported.
The state news agency posted images on Telegram of a house engulfed in a fireball and some damaged apartments, without specifying the location.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 287 drones overnight, wounding at least nine people in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions. It added that all but eight of the drones in seven locations were shot down.
Just over a week ago, Russia scaled back its traditionally colorful Victory Day military parade in response to an escalation of Ukrainian attacks deep within Russian territory, particularly against oil refineries.
As the attack unfolded on Sunday morning, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Army posted on his official Telegram account a message addressed to residents of the Patriarchal Quarter, one of Moscow’s elite residential districts.
“The one-way ticket to a peaceful life in the patriarchy and its surrounding areas has been cancelled.”
