Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia overnight, centering its attack on Moscow with nearly 700 drones targeting the capital city.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 650 drones were launched at the city overnight, claiming Russian defense forces thwarted most of the drones at a long range and shot down another 105 of the drones as they approached the Moscow airspace. Russia’s TASS state news agency says the attack was one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks in two years.
The attack comes as Russia and Ukraine have exchanged several attacks in recent weeks, with increasing concerns about the targeting of energy infrastructure on both sides of the conflict.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the overnight airstrikes from Monday into Tuesday also hit “a series of Russian military targets in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.” The ministry pointed to Ukrainian hits on a Russian “telecommunications hub” near Donetsk, Russian soldiers in several eastern Ukraine cities, a Russian army command post, and Russian drone and ammunition depots.
Russia sent 135 attack drones to Ukraine on Sunday, making the total number of attack drones sent over the last week more than 1,900, according to Kyiv.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his administration is “preparing countermeasures” based on intelligence that Russia is preparing to launch a “massive strike” on Ukraine. Zelensky added that, ahead of Tuesday, Russian attacks on Ukraine from the past week included attacks on several hospitals.
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Zelensky also noted on Monday that he expects a U.S.-organized meeting between Ukraine, Russia, and Trump administration officials to be announced in October, arguing in the meantime that Ukrainian allies must “push Russia toward diplomacy and real steps instead of killing.”
“We expect that the U.S. side will succeed in arranging a trilateral meeting in October. For now, the Russians are focused solely on strikes against Ukraine and destabilizing activities in Europe,” Zelensky said.