Russia says it shot down waves of drones above Moscow

Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said that 32 drones had been shot down over the suburbs of Domodedovo, Ramenskoye and Kolomna in the largest such attack on the capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow: Russia said its air defenses had shot down waves of Ukrainian drones over Moscow’s suburbs Sunday morning, responding to what it called a “massive” attack that wounded at least one person and temporarily halted flights at three regional airports.

Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 32 drones had been shot down over the suburbs of Domodedovo, Ramenskoye and Kolomna in the largest such attack on the capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 34 drones were shot down above Moscow in the attack.

The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, described the attack as “massive” and said a 52-year-old woman was hospitalized with “burns to her face, neck and hands.”

Flights at three regional airports, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, were halted for several hours Sunday morning because of the drone attack, which was also directed at other regions in western Russia.

In total, the Defense Ministry said it had shot down 70 Ukrainian drones over six Russian regions Sunday, including the ones in Moscow. The Ukrainian military did not make any immediate announcements about the attacks reported by Russia.

Also in the attacks early Sunday, local officials said 23 drones had been shot down in the Russian border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, where drone strikes occur more regularly. Drones also struck the western Kaluga and Tula regions.

Russia’s capital was last subject to a large drone attack in September, when 20 drones were shot down above the Moscow region, according to the Defense Ministry. During those strikes, one woman died and several other people were injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touched on his country’s growing arsenal of long-range weapons in an evening address Saturday. Zelenskyy said domestic defense companies had ramped up production of long-range drones and missiles to shoot back at Russia and that “we will scale this up.”