Moscow comes under one of largest Ukrainian drone attacks but destroys them all

Moscow came under one of the largest attacks yet by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, Russian authorities reported on Wednesday, saying they destroyed all of those headed towards the capital.

The drone attacks come as Ukrainian forces are continuing to push into Russia’s western Kursk region. In the past week, they have also struck three bridges, several airfields and an oil depot in a sign they are not letting up on their attacks.

“This was one of the biggest attempts of all time to attack Moscow using drones,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel.

He said strong defences around the capital made it possible to shoot down all the drones before they could hit their intended targets.

Russia said it downed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 11 over the Moscow region. There was no independent information to verify those figures.

Some Russian social media channels shared videos of drones apparently being destroyed by air defence systems, which then set off car alarms.

While Ukraine has been bogged down in a land conflict in eastern Europe in which the Russians have been driving forward slowly at a heavy cost to both sides, both countries have been sending drones deep into each other’s territory.

Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia, targeting the Russian capital and second city St Petersburg, and an airport in Western Russia, according to Russian officials.

Since the beginning of this year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault.

A fire at an oil depot targeted by Ukraine burned for the fourth day on Wednesday in Rostov, a region in south-west Russia that borders Ukraine.

Priests from the Russian Orthodox Church held a prayer service for injured firefighters as dark plumes of smoke rose in the distance at the oil depot in Proletarsk, according to a photo shared on social media by the Volgodonsk diocese.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 69 drones and three missiles at Ukraine overnight, describing it as Russia’s biggest drone attack so far in August. Ukraine said its air defences shot them down and no casualties or destruction were reported.

The daring incursion into Russia has raised morale in Ukraine with its surprising success and changed the dynamic of the fighting.

But it is uncertain how long Ukraine will be able to hold the territory it has seized in Kursk.

It has also opened up another front in a fight where Ukrainian forces were already badly stretched.

The gains in Kursk come as Ukraine continues to lose ground in its eastern industrial region of Donbas.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said in its daily report late on Tuesday that the Ukrainians had made additional advances in their incursion, now in its third week.

The Russian state news agency Tass reported that 31 people had died since Ukraine’s attack on Russia began on August 6, citing an unnamed source in the medical service – figures which are impossible to verify.

It said 143 people had suffered injuries, of whom 79 were admitted to hospital, including four children.

Ukraine’s attacks on three bridges over the Seim River in Kursk, in areas it does not control, could potentially trap Russian forces between the river, the Ukrainian advance and the Ukrainian border.

Already they appear to be slowing down Russia’s response to the Kursk incursion.

Ukrainian forces appear to be striking Russian pontoon bridges and pontoon engineering equipment over the Seim in an area west of the Ukrainian advance point, the Washington think tank said.

Though few details are available, Ukraine appears to be actively seeking to hinder Russians from crossing the river.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analysed on Wednesday by The Associated Press showed a significant fire on the Seim near the village of Krasnooktyabrskoe.

The blaze appeared on the northern bank of the river on Tuesday, with another fire seemingly in the village itself.

Such fires are common after strikes and often signify where ongoing frontline combat is taking place.