Explosions across Moscow as Ukraine targets Russia with ‘hundreds’ of drones

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Explosions across Moscow as Ukraine targets Russia with ‘hundreds’ of drones

Russia has been hit by what appears to be the biggest drone attack in its three-year conflict with Ukraine, with at least one person killed, according to local officials.

The attack came as a Ukrainian delegation was set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the war.

Flights have been restricted in and out of three airports, after Russian air defences shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 regions.

Three people were wounded, and a residential building in a Moscow district was damaged and cars set on fire, the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov said, according to Russian state news agencies.

Ukraine has not commented on the strike. Its air force said it shot down a ballistic Iskander-M missile and 79 of 126 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack.

Russia’s defence ministry said 91 of the drones were shot down over the Moscow region.

Flights have been restricted in and out of Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky to the south of Moscow, according to Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia.

Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport has resumed flights after suspending them earlier, the authority said in an update.

Train traffic through the Domodedovo railway station has also been briefly halted, local officials reported.

Authorities also reported shooting down or jamming drones in the Kaluga, Ryazan, Tula and Vladimir regions adjacent to the Moscow region, as well as the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine.

In the Lipetsk region, just south of the Kaluga and Tula regions, one person was wounded in a drone attack.

The attack comes hours ahead of crunch talks over between US and Ukrainian delegates in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in an effort to move forwards with peace talks.

On his way there US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials want to hear what kind of concessions Ukraine is prepared to make, saying his team “want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want”.

“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” he said.

“It’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions, but that’s the only way this is going to end and prevent more suffering.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv’s position in Tuesday’s talks with US officials will be “fully constructive” and that he hopes for practical outcomes from the negotiations.

How Ukraine’s adaptable drone arsenal is changing warfare

Ukraine is fast developing its vast arsenal of military drones that can out-manoeuvre Russia’s military and is destroying tanks along the front line, Caolan Magee writes.

The proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has led to some experts labelling the conflict the world’s first “drone war”.

According to a Nato official, more than two thirds of the Russian tanks that Ukraine’s military has destroyed in the first half of last year have been taken out using  first-person view (FPV)drones, while a large portion of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has reportedly been obliterated by airborne drones.

Ukraine has since added an explosive warhead secured with cable ties to the drones – creating a “suicide drone” that explodes on impact, while the Ukrainian government pledged to make a million FPV drones in 2024.

The UK has also provided Ukraine with long-range attack drones that can theoretically hit inside Russian territory.

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