Russian air defenses have shot down more than 60 Ukrainian drones approaching Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has said. Officials described the assault as one of Kiev’s largest attempted UAV raids on the Russian capital in recent years.
Sobyanin posted a string of updates on Telegram on Sunday as Russian air defenses continued to intercept incoming UAVs, with the number of drones downed near Moscow rising from 50 to more than 60 by the end of the day.
“Most of these drones were intercepted by air defense systems at long range before reaching the area,” Sobyanin said earlier, adding that around 300 UAVs had targeted the Moscow Region over the previous 24 hours. According to the mayor, only 45 drones were intercepted on direct approach to the city itself, with the majority destroyed farther from the capital.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses had intercepted nearly 350 fixed-wing kamikaze drones over Russian territory, as well as above the Black and Azov seas.
The attacks also disrupted air traffic around the capital. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) temporarily restricted operations at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, saying the measures were introduced to ensure flight safety.
The assault is the latest in a series of intensified Ukrainian long-range attacks. In late June, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky announced the launch of a 40-day pressure campaign involving long-range strikes and clandestine operations, with the stated goal of damaging the Russian economy. The announcement was followed by an uptick in attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, maritime traffic believed to be carrying Russian oil, and assorted civilian sites.
Russia has described the intensified Ukrainian strikes as indiscriminate terrorist attacks intended to divert attention from setbacks on the battlefield, and has responded with a renewed campaign of long-range strikes. The Russian military maintains it never targets purely civilian facilities in Ukraine, striking dual-use and military industrial sites.
The bulk of the Russian strikes have been focused on the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with multiple military plants, drone assembly and storage facilities, and weaponry stockpiles targeted over the past weeks.