Ann M. Simmons
Russian authorities said they downed three drones targeting Moscow early Sunday, in an attack that Russian state media said injured one person and forced the temporary closure of one the capital city’s main airports.
The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said on its Telegram messaging channel that it destroyed eight Russian drones overnight, including four Iranian-made Shahed drones and four reconnaissance drones over the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said two drones were brought down over Moscow with electronic jamming equipment, and then crashed into a commercial building complex in the city. The other was destroyed in the air over the Odintsovo district in the Moscow region.
The assault, which Russian officials described as an “attempted terrorist attack” by Ukraine, marked the fourth such strike on the capital this month, exposing serious vulnerabilities in the Kremlin’s ability to defend its territory since invading Ukraine nearly 18 months ago.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian state television that “now the war is affecting those who weren’t concerned [about it],” and that “no matter how the Russian authorities would like to turn a blind eye on this by saying they intercepted everything…something does hit.”
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that the facades of two office buildings in central Moscow were slightly damaged, but there were no fatalities. People were evacuated from the complex, and traffic was restricted on streets in the area. Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that a security guard was injured, citing emergency officials.
The capital’s Vnukovo airport was closed for arrivals and departures due to the incident, but was later reopened, the agency reported.
Sunday’s attacks on Moscow followed a series of drone strikes deep into Russian territory in recent weeks, including a strike on Friday in the country’s southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine. Authorities said at least 16 people were wounded by debris falling in the city of Taganrog.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has been facing a persistent barrage of Russian drones in what appears to be an effort to deplete its air defenses.
The recent assaults come as Ukraine steps up its counteroffensive in the country’s south and east in an effort to dislodge Russian forces from land they are occupying. They follow comments last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin that while Moscow is ready to begin peace talks, Kyiv is unwilling to negotiate an end to the conflict.
“We cannot impose these negotiations,” Putin told a meeting with African leaders in St. Petersburg on Friday, adding on Sunday that an African-led plan for a cease-fire isn’t possible while Ukraine’s counteroffensive continues.
Since the Ukrainian counteroffensive began, there’s been a dramatic increase in Ukraine’s use of cheap FPV, or first-person-view drones, to execute kamikaze-style attacks on Russian tanks and large-scale weapons. Photo illustration: Jeremy Shuback
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that any cease-fire that allows Russia to keep Ukrainian territories seized since the invasion last year would only encourage a wider conflict, giving Moscow an opportunity to replenish and rearm for another round of fighting.
Zelensky has said that his forces are intent on reclaiming all of his country’s territory, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Earlier this month, a Ukrainian strike disabled the only road bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, damaging a major symbol of Putin’s rule and constricting Russian supplies to the front lines in southern Ukraine.
On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that 25 Ukrainian drones targeting facilities in Crimea were intercepted and downed, but no one was injured and nothing was damaged as a result of the strike, the ministry said.
Airstrikes between Russia and Ukraine have escalated sharply in recent weeks, with Russia attacking Ukrainian ports in the wake of Moscow’s withdrawal from an international deal that safeguarded grain exports from Ukraine. The move threatens to trigger a global food crisis.
Write to Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com
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