At least four people were killed in a major Ukrainian drone attack on Russian regions, including Moscow, which faced its largest assault in more than a year.
Three people died in the Moscow region and one in the Belgorod region, authorities said on Sunday.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday: “Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified.”
“The distance from Ukraine’s state border is over 500km. The concentration of Russian air defence in the Moscow region is the highest. But we are overcoming it,” he said. “ ... We are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war.”
Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said a woman was killed when a home was hit in Khimki, north of the capital, adding that rescuers were searching the debris for another person. Two men were killed in the village of Pogorelki in the Mytishchi district. Several residential high-rises and infrastructure facilities were damaged, he said.
Air defences destroyed 81 drones headed for Moscow since midnight, TASS reported, citing mayor Sergei Sobyanin, making it the largest attack on the capital in over a year.
Sobyanin said 12 people were injured, mostly near the entrance to Moscow’s oil refinery, while three houses were damaged. The “technology” of the refinery was not damaged, he added.
Russia’s defence ministry said 556 drones had been downed over the country overnight and into the morning.
The country’s largest airport – Moscow’s Sheremetyevo – said drone debris had fallen on its territory without causing any damage. – Reuters
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