IN BRIEF
- Russian air defences shot down over 550 drones overnight across the country, its defence ministry said.
- One of the victims was an Indian citizen working in Russia.
In a significant escalation of hostilities, at least four individuals have died following Ukraine’s largest drone attack on Moscow in over a year. Among the deceased, three were located in the Moscow region.
A fourth casualty was reported in the Belgorod region, which lies adjacent to northeastern Ukraine, according to local authorities on Sunday. Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry claimed that more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted across the country in the past day.
This surge in drone activity comes on the heels of promises from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who vowed retaliation after Russia launched its most substantial drone and missile attacks on Kyiv over two days since the conflict began more than four years ago.
In a video shared on social media platform X, Zelenskyy confirmed the Ukrainian assault, showcasing footage of a drone in flight and scenes of firefighters battling thick black smoke and flames.
“Our responses to Russia’s continuation of the war and their attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified,” Zelenskyy stated.
He further emphasized Ukraine’s capability to strike targets over 500 kilometers from the border, despite the formidable Russian air defenses surrounding Moscow.
“We are clearly telling the Russians: Their state must end its war,” he said.
Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s increased military activity had produced a “change in the balance of actions at the front, which is now tangible”.
“For instance, the activity indicators for today are such that our active measures are greater than those of Russia. This is a very substantial result,” he said, without elaborating.
Russia’s foreign ministry accused Kyiv of targeting civilians.
“To the sound of Eurovision songs, the Kyiv regime, financed by the EU, carried out yet another mass terrorist attack,” TASS news agency cited the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on targets deep inside Russia in recent weeks, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines, as both sides seek to degrade each other’s infrastructure.
TASS cited Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin as saying air defences had destroyed 81 drones headed for Moscow since midnight, the largest attack on the capital in more than a year.
Sobyanin said 12 people were wounded, mostly near the entrance to Moscow’s oil refinery, while three houses were damaged. The “technology” of the refinery was not damaged, he said.
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.
One of the victims was an Indian citizen working in Russia, the Indian embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
Several residential high-rises and infrastructure facilities were damaged, he said.
The country’s largest airport, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, said drone debris had fallen on its territory but caused no damage.
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