MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 25 drones, forcing the temporary closure of two of the city’s major airports, Russian officials said, in what was the biggest Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian capital to date.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drones were destroyed in the Ramenskoye and Kolomensky districts of the Moscow region, as well as in Domodedovo city, southwest of Moscow. The Moscow region has a population of more than 21 million.
“According to preliminary information, there is no damage or casualties at the site of the fall of the debris,” Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app. “Emergency services are on the sites.”
The Ramenskoye district, some 45 km (30 miles) southeast of the Kremlin, was last targeted in September in what was then Ukraine’s biggest attack on the Russian capital, when Russian air defence units destroyed 20 drones.
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s federal air transport agency, said on Telegram that “to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, temporary restrictions have been introduced on the operation of the Domodedovo and Zhukovo airports,” starting at 0530 GMT.
It did not say how long the restrictions would be in force.
Separately, Ukrainian drone attacks have set several non-residential buildings on fire in Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions overnight, regional governors said on Sunday. The Russian ministry said it had destroyed 17 drones over the Bryansk region.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard/Guy Faulconbridge)
