A woman has been injured and flights from major airports were disrupted after Moscow was hit with the biggest drone strike since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia‘s defence ministry said 70 drones were shot down overnight in its territory, including 34 over the outskirts of the capital.
The federal air transport agency said the airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky diverted at least 36 flights, but then resumed operations.
A woman in her 50s suffered burns to her face, neck and hands after drone strikes sparked a blaze in her village southeast of Moscow, local governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
No one was said to have been hurt in the city itself but Russian channels on the messaging app Telegram carried eyewitness reports of drone debris setting fire to suburban homes.
“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using plane-type drones on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted,” the defence ministry said.
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Meanwhile, Russia launched a “record” 145 drones overnight, according to Ukraine, 62 of which were shot down.
A further 67 were “lost”, the air force said – a likely reference to electronic jamming that caused the drones to veer off course.
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At least two people were injured as Russian drones struck residential areas in the southern port of Odesa, according to local officials.
Ukraine also said it attacked an arsenal in the Bryansk region of Russia, which reported 14 drones had been downed in the region.