MOSCOW: Ukraine struck the Moscow region on Tuesday in its biggest drone attack so far on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing around 50 flights to be diverted from airports around Moscow.

Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, said it had destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region, which has a population of more than 21 million, and 124 more over eight other regions.

At least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the drone attack was another reminder of the real nature of Ukraine’s political leadership, which he said was made up of Russia’s enemies.

Three airports closed for more than six hours, 50 flights diverted

“There is no way that night time strikes on residential neighbourhoods can be associated with military action,” said Peskov. “The Kyiv regime continues to demonstrate its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue the special military operation to protect ourselves from such actions,” he said, using the expression Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.

Kyiv said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, had attacked it overnight with 46 drones, of which 38 were destroyed. The drone attacks on Russia damaged at high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, residents said.

A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were wounded in Ramenskoye, Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said. Reside­nts said they awoke to blasts and fire.

“I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire,” Alexander Li, a resident of the district said. “The window got blown out by the shockwave.” Georgy, a resident said he heard a drone buzzing outside his building in the early hours.

“I drew back the curtain and it hit the building right before my eyes, I saw it all,” he said. “I took my family and we ran outside.”

The Ramenskoye district, some 50 km southeast of the Kremlin, has a population of around a quarter of a million people, according to official data. More than 70 drones were also downed over Russia’s Bryansk region and tens more over other regions, Russia’s defence ministry said. There was no damage or casualties reported there.

As Russia advances in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has taken the war to Russia with a cross-border attack into Russia’s western Kursk region that began on Aug 6 and by carrying out increasingly large drone attacks deep into Russian territory.

Drone war

The war has largely been a grinding artillery and drone war along the 1,000 km heavily fortified front line in southern and eastern Ukraine involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them — from using shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.

Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their own production and assembly to attack targets including tanks and energy infrastructure such as refineries and airfields.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024