Just hours ahead of a major meeting between American and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia toward finding a path to ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine’s military launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Moscow and the surrounding region of the capital.
“The largest ever attack by enemy drones on Moscow has been repelled,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced on Telegram early Tuesday of the overnight attack. “Seventy-four combat drones were shot down on their way to Moscow, with hundreds more intercepted at various points.”
At least three people were killed as the drones in some cases scored direct hits on residential buildings and neighborhoods of the capital. The scale of the launch included multiple hundreds of UAVs – given that Russia’s defense ministry said it downed 337 unmanned aircraft during the assault.
A statement claimed that 91 drones were downed around Moscow, with another 126 intercepted over the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
At least nine others were wounded, with some reports suggesting up to 20 were hurt. One man who was killed was struck in a parking lot outside a meat packing plant, the regional governor said. Another man succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has dubbed the attack an act of terrorism and said that President Putin has been briefed on the matter.
Transportation in the capital was impacted, with Domodedovo train station south of Moscow experiencing service disruptions after falling drone debris caused damage. Also, all Moscow airports were temporarily halted for all inbound and outbound flights.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted Kiev for the attack, pointing out that it happened just as OSCE Secretary General Feridun H. Sinirlioglu (of Turkey) was visiting Moscow.
“The Kyiv regime once again sent drones toward the city,” Zakharova said on Telegram. “The head of an organization that Zelensky’s sponsors have reduced to mere rhetoric, stripping it of its original purpose — ensuring security and cooperation in Europe.”
“This is yet another signal to the international community — to the so-called collective West, which in reality is anything but united — that the monster they nurtured, fed, armed and showered with money is now completely out of control,” she continued.
But Ukraine is already presenting it as an example of its supposed leverage, threatening that such attacks will continue unless Putin accepts a ceasefire for the air, which Ukraine is expected to present to the US. This is key to the ‘partial ceasefire’ now being pushed by Zelensky.
“The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region,” Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Kovalenko touted in connection to talks with the US. “This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air.”
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