Ukraine on Tuesday struck Russia with a wave of drone attacks, killing at least one woman in the Moscow region, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing flight cancellations and delays at major airports servicing Moscow, Russian officials said.
A wave of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia overnight killed a woman near Moscow, Russian officials said on Tuesday, the first time someone has been killed near the capital since the start of Moscow's offensive.
The overnight attacks, which saw 144 drones shot down over Russia, disrupted air traffic at Moscow's airports and set off air defences around the country, they said.
The woman, 46, was killed and three more people were hospitalised in the town of Ramenskoye in the Moscow region that surrounds the Russian capital, governor Andrey Vorobyov said.
An earlier statement in which he reported the death of a 9-year-old child was still "not confirmed", he said.
Moscow and its region have been targeted several times by drones since the start of Russia's offensive in Ukraine in 2022, but this was the first reported death.
Russia's defence ministry said in a statement it had downed 144 Ukrainian drones in nine regions, including 20 over the Moscow region.
Read moreWhy Russia is accusing its own scientists of treason
In Ramenskoye, AFP reporters saw extensive damage to the 10th, 11th and 12th floors of a 17-storey apartment block in which the woman was reported to have been killed.
Around a dozen residents of the building could be seen nearby hoping to be allowed back in after firefighters put out a fire sparked by the strike.
As a result of the attack, four airports servicing Moscow – including major hubs Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo – had cancelled or delayed flights on Tuesday morning, according to state media.
In Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, "the enemy carried out a massive terrorist attack", regional Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said on Telegram, adding "there were no casualties or damage, all attacks were repelled".
The defence ministry said 72 drones were downed over the region.
Ukraine and Russia routinely carry out nighttime drone attacks on each other's territory.
Advances in east
The latest wave of drones came as Moscow continued to claim incremental gains in Ukraine's east more than 30 months into its offensive, and as Kyiv's forces pressed their incursion into Russia's region of Kursk.
Russia on Monday said its forces had captured another Ukrainian village, Memryk, seen as a stepping stone to the Kyiv-held logistics hub of Pokrovsk some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.
Pokrovsk lies on the intersection of a key road that supplies Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front and has long been a target for Moscow's army.
Kyiv had launched its Kursk offensive on August 6 aiming to force Russia to redeploy troops pressing forward in the east, but Moscow has appeared to intensify its attacks there.
Read moreIncursion into Russia’s Kursk region: A risky gamble for Ukraine?
Moscow has also kept up its own aerial attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, including on key energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Three Russian drones were shot down above Ukraine's Sumy overnight, the regional military administration said early Tuesday, while air defences were also activated around Kyiv.
The military administration in the capital later said there were "no consequences after the Russian UAV attack".
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk condemned Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities on Monday.
Ukraine's population was enduring "ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation striking civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated waves of targeting of energy infrastructure", Turk told the UN Human Rights Council.
"I fear for Ukrainians this coming winter," he said.
(AFP)
