Russia has foiled nighttime attacks by Ukrainian drones in western Moscow and Bryansk regions, Russian authorities said early Monday.
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On Monday, “the air defense forces of the Lioubertsy district (southeast of the capital, editor’s note) destroyed a drone flying towards Moscow,” Mayor of the Russian capital Sergey Sobyanin told Telegram.
“According to initial information, there were no casualties or damage,” he added, adding that the relevant services are on site.
According to the Defense Ministry, the attack was led from Kiev and thwarted around 4:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. GMT).
Moscow’s Domodedovo and Vnukovo international airports were briefly closed to departures and arrivals before resuming operations, the Russian state news agency TASS reported at the same time, citing the airline.
In the night from Sunday to Monday, two more aircraft were destroyed “by the air defense deployed over the territory of the Briansk region bordering Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
The ministry did not provide any information on injuries or damage.
Drone attacks on Russian territory and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, have multiplied in recent weeks, targeting the Russian capital in particular amid the Kiev counter-offensive that began in early June.
Moscow announced on Thursday that it had shot down three Ukrainian planes in the Bryansk and Kaluga border regions. In the summer, devices were destroyed above the capital’s business district, and in May two devices suffered the same fate near the Kremlin.
At the end of July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi welcomed the fact that “a war is coming to Russian territory”.