A new Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and its region was intercepted by the Russian army on Sunday, a day after a deadly attack by Moscow forces in the heart of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.
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Drones also targeted Russia’s Kursk regions to the west overnight, wounding five, and Rostov on the border with Ukraine. Such attacks on Russian soil are increasing as the Kiev forces counter-offensive.
In Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, about 90 kilometers from the border, relief workers continued their work on Sunday in the rubble of the city center that had been hit by a Russian missile the day before, killing at least seven and injuring 148, according to sources a recent official shared the report, an attack the United Nations has described as “abhorrent.”
According to the Russian military, “around 04:00 [01h00 GMT]”An attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using a drone on infrastructure in Moscow and the Moscow region was foiled.” The vehicle “crashed in an uninhabited area” and “there were no casualties or damage.”
According to the Tass agency, the Domodedovo and Vnukovo international airports serving the Russian capital had been temporarily closed.
In Kursk, according to the Roman Starovoit region governor, a drone “crashed onto the roof of the station, after which a fire broke out” before it was “extinguished at 3:46 (00:46 GMT)”. According to him, “five people were slightly injured by broken glass,” including three who were taken to the hospital “for examinations.”
population surprised
Further south and still close to Ukraine, in the Rostov region, “two drones” were intercepted by Russian anti-aircraft defenses without causing casualties or damage, the region’s governor Vasily Goloubev said.
On Saturday, Moscow said it had foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in the Novgorod region of northwestern Russia, far from the border with Ukraine.
The Russian attack on Chernihiv has taken the population by surprise as the city has been spared large-scale attacks in recent months after being briefly surrounded by Russian forces at the start of the invasion in February 2022.
“Currently, works to clear the city center are ongoing, construction machines are in use,” wrote the governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaouss, on Telegram on Sunday morning. “All surrounding buildings are being inspected to assess the extent of the damage.”
“An ordinary Saturday that Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented on Saturday, adding that the attack took place on the Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a major Orthodox holiday.
Kiev has notched up a string of military victories against Russia over the past week, and the United States on Friday authorized Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Mr. Zelenskyy was in Sweden, his ally who wants to join NATO, on Saturday. According to Zelenskyi, the talks with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson were about the preparation of the 13th Swedish military aid package, including the joint production of Swedish CV90 light tanks.