Dozens of Ukrainian drones rattled Russia’s Moscow region overnight Monday into Tuesday morning, delivering another key military blow to Russia’s capital city. It was the latest drone strike orchestrated by Ukraine, which has inflicted significant damage on Russia in recent weeks, hitting the capital city on multiple occasions, disrupting communication networks and energy infrastructure.
Tuesday’s coordinated drone strike attack marks the second time since June 22 that the Ukrainian Defense Forces have hit the Dubna Space Communications Center, a vital communications hub for Russia, supporting much of the country’s satellite communication systems. It is reportedly the largest space and satellite communications center in Russia and one of the largest in Europe. The Dubna Space Communications Center is an integral part of Russia’s reconnaissance efforts in its war with Ukraine.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted about Ukraine’s drone strike on his city in a post on Telegram on Tuesday morning.
“Another large-scale attack by enemy drones has been repelled. Since 8 p.m., air defenses have destroyed 61 drones approaching Moscow,” said Sobyanin on the cloud-based messaging application.
Russia claimed that the strikes on the Dubna Space Communications Center were part of a military campaign that hit Russian targets early Tuesday morning, with officials claiming 419 drones were shot down by Russian air defense systems, including 61 drones near Moscow, reported The Kyiv Independent.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the overnight drone campaign in a social media post on Tuesday morning.
“Today, our long-range sanctions against Russia for this war once again reached the Dubna space communications center in the Moscow region,” said Zelensky. “This is a special satellite communications facility used, in particular, for reconnaissance and for coordinating the activity of Russia’s occupation contingent in Ukraine.”
Zelensky touted the capabilities of the long-range drones deployed on Tuesday, specifically mentioning targeting the satellite communication infrastructure in two Russian regions. He warned that more could be on the way as Russia seeks to continue to defend itself from Russian aggression.
“The distance from our state border to this facility is more than 500 kilometers,” said Zelensky. “Recently, our Defense Forces of Ukraine already reached four such Russian centers, not only in the Moscow region but also in the Vladimir region. Step by step, we are implementing our plan of long-range sanctions and making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to carry out its invasion operations against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories. Relevant actions are also being prepared against other similar enemy facilities.”