Three people were killed overnight Saturday and at least a dozen were injured in a wide-scale drone strike on Moscow and the surrounding region, Russian authorities said.
It was the largest and deadliest attack on the Russian capital region since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and it showed Kyiv’s increasing ability to carry out long-range strikes and penetrate air defenses.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Sunday that more than 120 drones were intercepted near the capital over 24 hours, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said 556 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia overnight.
“Completely fair are our responses to the Russian prolongation of the war and strikes on our cities and communities. This time, Ukrainian long-range sanctions have reached the Moscow region, and we clearly tell the Russians: their state must end their war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote Sunday on Telegram.
The deaths and the increasing vulnerability of the Moscow region — including in areas where the capital’s residents have their country homes and weekend cabins — were likely to increase pressure on Putin, who is confronting rising public frustration over the war, now in its fifth year.
One woman was killed and another was trapped under rubble after a drone hit a house in Khimki, a suburb north of the capital, the governor of the Moscow region said. Andrei Vorobyov, the governor, said air defense forces began repelling the attack at 3 a.m.
A man and woman were killed in the village of Pogorelki in the Mytishchi district, also north of the capital, when a drone hit a house under construction, local authorities said.
Four people were injured when a drone hit an apartment building and six homes in Dedovsk, a town northwest of Moscow.
Last week, after a brief ceasefire, Russia hammered Kyiv with airstrikes. At least 24 people were killed when an apartment complex was hit in the Ukrainian capital.
On Saturday, Russian attacks in Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions killed two people and injured 23, Ukrainian officials said.
At Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, more than 200 flights had been delayed or canceled by Sunday, according to the online departures board. Aeroflot said some incoming flights were being redirected to other airports.
At Vnukovo International Airport, also in Moscow, nearly 100 flights were delayed or canceled. Sheremetyevo’s press service stated that drone debris had fallen at a safe distance from passenger areas and that no injuries were reported.
Anastacia Galouchka in Kyiv contributed to this report.
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