Ukraine targets Moscow in ‘one of largest ever’ drone attacks

A Ukrainian soldier watches a drone feed from an underground command centre in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine [File: Libkos/AP Photo]

Moscow, August 21 - Ukraine has launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow, as it presses on with a major incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Russian authorities said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that air defence forces shot down 11 drones over Moscow and its surrounding region, with some reportedly downed over the city of Podolsk some 38km (24 miles) south of the Kremlin.

“This is one of the largest ever attempts to attack Moscow with drones,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app. No damage or casualties were reported, he said in an earlier post.

Drone attacks on Moscow are rare. Ukraine’s latest attempt to target the Russian capital appeared to be larger than a previous attack in May 2023, when at least eight drones were struck down.

Wednesday’s barrage was part of a broader attack on Russia, with the Defence Ministry saying its air defence units destroyed 23 drones over the border region of Bryansk.

Six drones were destroyed over Belgorod, another Russian region on the border with Ukraine, three over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region to its northeast, and two over the embattled Kursk region, the ministry said.

Russia’s RIA state news agency also reported that two drones were destroyed over the Tula region, which borders the Moscow region to its north.

Following the assault on Moscow, temporary restrictions were imposed overnight at Moscow’s Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports, but all three returned to normal operations later on Wednesday.

“If it [Ukraine] targets the cities, how many of those drones will get through, what effect will they have on Russian strategic thinking because these cities are all very well protected, especially the capital? So it remains to be seen whether this is a departure or just a one-off by Ukraine’s military command,” said Al Jazeera’s Defence Editor Alex Gatopoulos, reporting from Kyiv.

Lightning raid

Ukraine’s drone assault came as Russia struggles to push Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, two weeks after the surprise incursion.

Hundreds of prisoners were taken and tens of thousands of civilians were forced to evacuate following Ukraine’s lightning raid on Kursk on August 6.

Ukraine now claims to control 1,263sq km (488sq miles) of Kursk territory, including 93 settlements.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces said they had struck an S-300 antiaircraft missile system based in Russia’s southern Rostov region.

Ukrainian drones had also hit an oil storage facility in Rostov on Sunday, sparking a massive fire. On Wednesday, hundreds of Russian firefighters were still battling the blaze.

“Does this signal a departure in Ukraine’s strategic thinking? They’ve been targeting very successfully Russia’s industrial capacity to wage war,” said Al Jazeera’s Gatopoulos.

“You see the Rostov on Don oil refinery still burning after four days, its output down to a mere fraction of what it was beforehand,” he said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces were continuing their offensive in eastern Ukraine, claiming on Tuesday to have taken control of what was described as the strategically important logistics hub of Niu-York, part of an overall drive to capture the entire Donetsk region.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, promised on Wednesday that there would be no talks between the two countries until Ukraine is completely defeated.

“The empty chatter of intermediaries that no one had appointed about the wonderful peace is over,” he said on Telegram. “There will be no more negotiations until the complete defeat of the enemy.”