MOSCOW: Ukraine’s overnight and early Friday morning drone attacks killed two people in Russia and attempted to hit targets in Moscow, Russian authorities said.
Russian air defences downed 155 Ukrainian drones between 11 p.m. on Thursday (2000 GMT) and 7 a.m. on Friday, including 11 bound for Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Three of the four airports serving the Russian capital, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky, temporarily suspended operations but later resumed, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said late on Thursday. A drone crashed onto the territory of an agricultural enterprise in the Lipetsk region, sparking a short-lived fire and killing one person and injuring another, regional governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.
The Russian defence ministry said that its air defence systems destroyed four drones over the Lipetsk region that lies in Russia’s southwest. The ministry only reports the number of drones that its units destroy, not how many Ukraine launches.
Most of the drones overnight were destroyed over Russian regions bordering Ukraine: Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk, the ministry added.
One person was killed and another injured in a Ukrainian attack on the Tula region, around 200 km (124 miles) south of Moscow, regional Governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Telegram.
The mayor of the port city of Taganrog in southwestern Russia, Svetlana Kambulova, said on Telegram that drone debris fell onto the Beriev aircraft manufacturer.
Kambulova did not say whether there was any damage as a result of the attack, but added there were no injuries.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Kyiv says its attacks on Russian territory are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow’s war efforts and are in response to Russia’s continued strikes on Ukraine throughout the war.
Moscow has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, launching a record number of drones that have targeted Kyiv and cities throughout Ukraine and killed scores of civilians, Ukrainian officials said.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in February 2022. Thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. – REUTERS
