Russia and Ukraine have carried out the largest drone attack on each other since the start of the war.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 84 Ukrainian drones across six regions, including one approaching Moscow, forcing them to fly out of the capital’s three main airports.
Russia launched 145 drones across the country on Saturday night, most of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said.
The barrage came amid hopes that US President-elect Donald Trump would put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.
Ukraine’s attempted attack on Moscow was also the largest attack on a capital since the start of the war, and the region’s governor described it as “massive.”
Officials said most of the drones were shot down in the Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo districts.
Falling debris injured five people and set four houses on fire in Ramenskoye, southwest of Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. It added that 34 drones were shot down over the town.
In September, a woman was killed in a drone attack in Ramenskoye. Last May, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin in central Moscow, and there were also multiple drone attacks in Moscow’s business district.
In Ukraine, a drone crash in the Odessa region left at least two people injured. Images showed flames coming from some buildings and the aftermath.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that 62 Russian and Iranian drones were shot down and 67 were “lost”. It added that another 10 people left Ukrainian airspace and returned to Russia, neighboring Belarus and Moldova.
The drone barrage came as Russian forces reportedly made their biggest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of data by the Institute for War Studies.
But Britain’s Chief of Defense Staff, Sir Tony Radakin, told the BBC’s Sunday Laura Kuenssberg program that Russia had suffered its deadliest month since the start of the war.
He said the Russian military suffered an average of about 1,500 casualties “every day” in October.
Since winning the presidential election in the United States, there has been intense speculation about how Mr. Trump will approach the conflict.
The president-elect has regularly said during his campaign that he could end the war in “one day,” but he has not provided details on how he would do that.
Brian Lanza, a former adviser to President Trump, told the BBC that the next administration would focus on achieving peace in Ukraine rather than helping it regain territory from Russia.
In response, President Trump’s press secretary distanced himself from the president-elect’s comments, saying Lanza “does not speak for him.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke through state media on Sunday about “positive” signals from the incoming US administration.
He claimed that Trump said during the campaign that he did not want to inflict defeat on Russia, but that he wanted peace.
President Trump has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy since his election victory, and a source told the BBC that the meeting lasted “about 30 minutes.”
President Zelenskiy has previously warned Russia not to cede land, saying Ukraine would lose the war without U.S. aid.
