Russia says repels drone attack on Moscow
by AFP Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Aug 21, 2024

Ukraine fired 11 drones Wednesday at Moscow that Russia said were shot down during one of the largest strikes against the capital, while Ukrainian defences reported stopping 50 Russian drones and missiles.

The strikes on Moscow come amid a Ukrainian offensive in Russia's Kursk region -- which Kyiv has said is aimed at bringing the campaign launched by Russia in February 2022 closer to an end on "fair" terms.

"Eleven drones were destroyed" over Moscow and its surrounding region, the defence ministry said.

"This is one of the largest ever attempts to attack Moscow with drones," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

In total, 45 drones from Ukraine were destroyed by the Russian air defense systems, according to the Russian defense ministry.

Sobyanin said in an earlier post that no damage or casualties had been reported.

Drone attacks on Moscow are rare, with Russia saying in May it had downed a drone outside the capital, forcing restrictions to be imposed at two major airports in the city for under an hour.

In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a total of 72 air targets were detected over Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

Fifty drones and a guided missile were shot down, he said in a post on Telegram.

Kyiv was one of the locations targeted.

"The enemy continues to attack our region with strike drones. The air raid lasted all night and into the morning for more than nine hours," Kyiv's military administration said on Telegram.

A private house was damaged as a result of falling debris from the downed targets, and power lines were cut, it added.

Since August 6, Ukraine has mounted an unprecedented cross-border assault into Russia's Kursk region, where it claims to control more than 80 settlements.

Kyiv has also repeatedly targeted oil and gas facilities in Russia since the conflict began in 2022, some hundreds of kilometres from its borders, in what it has called "fair" retaliation for massive attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian drones attacked an oil storage facility in Russia's southern Rostov region on Sunday, sparking a large fire, the local governor said.

The blaze in the city of Proletarsk was still raging on Wednesday, Russian media reported.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his forces for hitting oil facilities in Russia, saying the attacks would help bring a "just end" to the conflict.

burs/jm

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