The Russian city of Kurchatov is the target of a Ukrainian drone strike as air defenses stop the drone’s advance on Moscow, officials say.
A Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian town of Kurchatov in the Kursk region damaged an administrative and residential building, while a second drone was shot down near Moscow, local officials said.
Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovoit said emergency services were assessing damage in the city of Kurchatov after the early morning attack on Friday.
“There are no injuries,” Starovoit wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
The governor reported that two buildings were damaged by two drones, but later clarified that only one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was involved in the attack on the city of Kurchatov, just a few kilometers from the Soviet-era Kursk nuclear power plant of Russia’s largest.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported early Friday that Russian air defense forces had shot down a drone that was approaching the capital.
The drone was shot down near Lyubertsy, which is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of central Moscow, he wrote on Telegram. No further details were available.
According to a local online news report, Moscow’s three main airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo – reportedly canceled and rescheduled flights early Friday morning following reports of an unidentified object flying in the capital’s airspace.
Russian state news agency TASS later reported that Vnukovo airport resumed operations at 7:28 a.m. local time (04:28 GMT) after restrictions linked to an attempted drone attack were lifted.
On Thursday, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said he wanted to expand the city’s air defense in light of the almost daily drone attacks on the Russian capital.
“We have done a lot this year to protect Moscow from drones and attempted terrorist attacks,” Sobyanin told representatives of municipal companies, according to the Interfax news agency.
In recent weeks, new air defense systems have been set up every day, said Sobyanin.
“Sometimes the asphalt doesn’t even have time to cool down – and the rockets are already in action, shooting down the flying drones,” he said, according to Interfax.
Independent observers have cast doubt on official reports from Russia that many of the suspected Ukrainian drones are detected and shot down by Moscow air defenses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday evening that Ukrainian armed forces had manufactured a new weapon with a target range of about 700 km (435 miles).
He did not provide any further details, other than to say that there are efforts to further increase the range of the new weapon.