Ukraine Fires Largest Drone Barrage At Russia

In the early hours of Tuesday, Ukrainian drones smashed into high-rise apartment towers and parking lots on the outskirts of Moscow, with both sides claiming it was the heaviest attack on Russia’s capital in the three-year battle.

The Kremlin criticized the incident, which occurred hours before top US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia for discussions following three years of Russian aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

The attack killed three people, Russian officials said.

Kyiv said the strikes should push Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept its call for a halt to long-range aerial strikes, a proposal Moscow has previously ruled out.

Ukrainian and US diplomats were gathering to discuss how to end the conflict, with Kyiv stating it will try to persuade Washington, which has resumed negotiations with Moscow under President Donald Trump, to support the plan.

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, condemned Kyiv’s assault of “residential houses,” stating that Russia’s own forces exclusively struck military facilities, despite near-daily attacks on Ukraine’s civilian regions and thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed in the onslaught.

Moscow’s army said it intercepted 343 Ukrainian drones, some of which fell on “residential and economic infrastructure”.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described it as the “most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow”.

At one bombing scene, AFP journalists discovered holes in the upper floors of an apartment building, as well as broken glass and debris strewn across the road.
The drones targeted locations surrounding Moscow, including Ramenskoye, which is home to an air base, and an area near Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.

‘All the neighbours jumped’
“We were sleeping, there was an explosion, and the children screamed,” Yevgenia Bakatuyeva, a 38-year-old resident of one of the apartment complexes hit in Sapronovo, south of Moscow, told AFP.

“When I opened my door, all of the neighbours jumped out. “Someone was bleeding,” she added.

Artyom, a 34-year-old auto sales manager who lives in the building, said he had “only seen such things on TV” and found it “scary when in real life.”

The battle in Ukraine frequently feels faraway in Russia’s capital, where life goes on as Moscow’s army advances and assaults Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine has previously targeted Moscow, but lethal strikes thus far from the front lines are unusual.

During the attack, no air raid siren or alert was issued in the capital.

above 90 drones were intercepted above the Moscow Region, which surrounds the strongly fortified capital. The rest targeted areas surrounding Moscow as well as those bordering Ukraine.

Truce in the sky

Russian aviation officials temporarily closed the four main airports serving Moscow.

Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said a 50-year-old and a 38-year-old security guard were killed, with a local official later saying a third man died in hospital.

The health ministry earlier said several people were in hospital, including a child.

Russia’s investigative committee called it a “terrorist attack” and opened a criminal investigation.

In the Vladimir region, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow, a village of around 800 people was evacuated after two drones there were shot down, local authorities said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it had taken OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu — in Moscow on Tuesday — to the site of one of the attacks.

‘Signal to Putin’

“This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air,” said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s National Security Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

Kyiv is set to present the United States with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under Trump has demanded concessions to end the conflict.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will take part in the Saudi talks, indicated the idea had promise.

Russia has previously ruled out partial ceasefires.

Russia’s defence ministry said the attack, hours before the talks, were designed to “demonstrate” Ukraine’s military capacity.

On the battlefield, Moscow said it retook 12 villages in its Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, territory Kyiv hoped to use as leverage in peace negotiations, but where it has been losing ground.

Russia also said it captured the village of Dachne in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s military launched a ballistic missile and 126 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions overnight as air defence downed a wave of drones.

A Russian bomb attack on the eastern Donetsk region killed one and wounded four, the regional governor said.

AFP