Moscow (TDI): Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday with at least 91 drones targeting the Russian capital, killing at least one person, sparking fires, closing airports and forcing dozens of flights to be diverted.
A total of 337 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over the Moscow region and 126 over the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have been pulling back, the defense ministry said.
The massive dawn drone attack unfurled just as a team of Ukrainian officials prepare to meet a US team in Saudi Arabia to seek grounds for possible peace negotiations in the 3-year-old war, and as Russian troops try to encircle thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the western Russian region of Kursk, according to Reuters.
As rush hour built, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated air defenses were still repelling strikes on the city, which along with the surrounding region has a population of about 21 million and is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe.
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Sobyanin said in a statement that the most massive attack of enemy UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) on Moscow has been repelled.
Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said at least one person was killed and three wounded.
Vorobyov said that some individuals were forced to evacuate a multi-storey building in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, about 50 km southeast of the Kremlin.
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Russia’s aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of the city’s airports to ensure air safety after the attacks.
Two other airports, in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions, both east of Moscow, were also closed.
