Massive Ukrainian Drone Assault Hits Moscow Amid Intensifying War

Drone Attack on Moscow

Ukraine attacked Moscow on Wednes­day with at least 11 drones shot down by air defens­es in what Russ­ian offi­cials said was one of the biggest drone strikes on the cap­i­tal since the war in Ukraine began in Feb­ru­ary 2022.

War Intensifies in Ukraine

The war, large­ly a grind­ing artillery and drone bat­tle across the fields, forests and vil­lages of east­ern Ukraine, esca­lat­ed on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thou­sands of sol­diers into Rus­si­a’s west­ern Kursk region.

Ukraine has also fought an increas­ing­ly dam­ag­ing drone war against the refiner­ies and air­fields of Rus­sia, though major drone attacks on the Moscow region are rarer.

Defending Moscow’s Airspace

Rus­si­a’s defense min­istry said it destroyed a total of 45 drones over Russ­ian ter­ri­to­ry, includ­ing 11 over the Moscow region. Moscow May­or Sergei Sobyanin called it “one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever” and said the city’s “lay­ered defense” suc­cess­ful­ly repelled the attacks.

Impacts on Aviation

Moscow’s air­ports Vnuko­vo, Domode­do­vo and Zhukovsky lim­it­ed flights for four hours but were restart­ed nor­mal oper­a­tions from 3:30 a.m., Rus­si­a’s avi­a­tion watch­dog said. There were no reports of injuries or dam­age in the after­math of the attacks.

Additional Attacks Across Russia

Reports also indi­cat­ed attacks in oth­er regions of Rus­sia, includ­ing the Tula, Ros­tov, and Bryan­sk areas. Ukraine’s mil­i­tary said it struck an S‑300 anti-air­craft mis­sile sys­tem based in the Ros­tov region.