At least one woman was killed and dozens of homes were destroyed in Ukraine’s largest drone attack on the Russian capital to date.
Kyiv also targeted airports for the first time, forcing around 50 flights to be diverted around Moscow. Yaroslav Trofimov, a journalist at The Wall Street Journal, suggested that officials were “seeking some reciprocity” for the fact there haven’t been any civilian flights in Ukraine since February 2022.
Russia said it shot down at least 20 drones over the Moscow region, after the attack which the Ministry of Defence described as “terrorist,” saying it would appeal to international organisations. Ukraine has not commented on the strikes, though Kyiv has previously denied targeting civilians.
Reports say that one drone could be heard flying above a residential area just 35 miles from the Kremlin. It then crashed into a 17-storey block of flats, killing a 46-year-old woman in her sleep. Another apartment building in the same area was also damaged.
An earlier series of drone attacks outside Moscow in May last year prompted one popular pro-war blogger to note:
If the goal of the assault was to stress out the population, then the fact of Ukrainian drones appearing in the skies over Moscow has done enough already.
Russia’s defence authorities claimed to have shot down more than 100 drones in other parts of the country.
This was Ukraine’s second mass drone attack on Russia so far this month—with the first targeting energy and power facilities. Moscow has threatened to respond.
