Moscow targeted as Ukraine and Russia trade huge drone attacks
Russia and Ukraine have conducted their largest drone attacks against each other since the conflict began.
Russia’s defense ministry reported intercepting 84 Ukrainian drones across six regions, including some that were headed towards Moscow, causing flight diversions at three major airports in the capital.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force stated that Russia launched 145 drones across the country on Saturday night, with the majority being shot down.
These attacks come amid growing speculation that US President-elect Donald Trump may exert pressure on both sides to negotiate an end to the war.
Ukraine’s attempt to strike Moscow marked its largest attack on the capital since the conflict’s onset, with the region’s governor describing it as “massive.”
Most of the drones were downed in the districts of Ramenskoye, Kolomna, and Domodedovo, according to officials.
In Ramenskoye, located southwest of Moscow, five people were injured, and four houses caught fire due to falling debris. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that 34 drones were downed over the area.
Earlier this year, in September, a woman was killed in a drone strike in Ramenskoye. In May 2023, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin, and several drone attacks targeted the Moscow City business district.
In Ukraine, at least two people were injured when a drone struck the Odesa region. Images showed flames rising from buildings and significant damage.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported shooting down 62 of Russia’s Iranian-made drones, with 67 more “lost” and 10 others veering back towards Russia, Belarus, and Moldova.
The drone barrages come as Russian troops reportedly made their largest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to analysis of Institute for the Study of War data by the AFP news agency.
However, Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defense staff, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program that Russia had suffered its worst month for casualties since the start of the war.
Russian forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured “every single day” in October, he said.
There has been intense speculation about how Trump will approach the conflict since his election win in the US.
The president-elect regularly said in his election campaign that he could end the war “in a day”, but has not offered details on how he would do that.
A former adviser to Trump, Bryan Lanza, told the BBC that the incoming administration would focus on achieving peace rather than enabling Ukraine to gain back territory from Russia.
In response, a spokesperson for Trump distanced the president-elect from the remarks, saying Mr Lanza “does not speak for him”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke via state media on Sunday of “positive” signals from the incoming US administration.
He claimed that Trump spoke during his election campaign about wanting peace and not a desire to inflict defeat on Russia.
Trump has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since his election win, a source telling the BBC that the conversation lasted “about half an hour”.
Zelensky has previously warned against conceding land to Russia and has said that without US aid, Ukraine would lose the war.
