Ukraine launches the largest drone attack on Russia’s capital Moscow since the start of the war in 2022, as Russia launches an unprecedented 145 drones against Ukraine, leaving one person injured and three Two major airports were forced to reroute flights.
Moscow’s regional governor, Andrei Vorobyov, called it a “massive attack” and said the dropped drone set two houses on fire in the village of Stanovoe, 15 miles southeast of the city. He said a 52-year-old woman was injured by shrapnel and was in intensive care with burns to her face, neck and hands.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had “intercepted and destroyed” 34 drones over Moscow following recent attacks on the capital.
All three airports have since resumed operations, including Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia’s busiest.
It was not the first attack on the capital by Ukraine, but it was the largest attack on the city to date, with British Defense Secretary Sir Tony Radakkin estimating that Russia had suffered its worst monthly casualties since the start of the war. This was done in response to this. A war that lasted two and a half years.
In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Radakin said the Russian military suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and wounded “every day” in October, with total losses reaching 700,000.
He said Russia had to endure “huge pain and suffering because of Putin’s ambitions” and that the losses came at the cost of “a small increase in land.”
But he added: “There is no doubt that Russia has tactical and territorial interests that are putting pressure on Ukraine.”
Across the border, Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday that Russia launched “a record 145 Shahed and other drone attack aircraft against Ukraine” on Saturday night. The Iranian-made Shahed drone is a cheap but effective weapon widely used by Russia.
Zelenskiy added that Russia had used “more than 800 guided airstrikes, about 600 attack drones and about 20 missiles” this week.
Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched a nighttime attack on the southern region of Odessa, injuring at least two people and damaging buildings.
“The enemy has again launched a large-scale attack on our region,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region said on its social media account. “The garage with cars and other household items caught fire, and homes and businesses were damaged.”
Russian forces also captured the village of Vovchenka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Sunday.
As Russia continues its offensive, Ukraine is also considering the changing political climate as its biggest donor elects a new president.
President-elect Donald Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he will be able to resolve the Russian invasion before he takes office, while blaming Zelenskiy for the war.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him, because I feel so bad for them,” he said in an interview on the PBD podcast in October. War is a loser. ”
During his campaign, Trump also refused to commit to sending more aid to the country’s defense in trouble.
The United States has approved $175 billion in aid to Ukraine, more than any other country. If President Trump withdraws American aid, Ukraine’s defenses against the Kremlin could suffer a major blow.
President Putin last week congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory and said his desire to facilitate an end to the Ukraine crisis was “remarkable.”
President Zelenskiy publicly welcomed Trump’s victory and said he looked forward to “an era of a strong United States under President Trump’s decisive leadership.”
But Zelenskiy said in a September interview with The New Yorker that “even though President Trump thinks he knows how to stop wars, he actually doesn’t know how.”
As Russia launches drones in Odessa, Russian regional governors said on Sunday that Ukraine also launched its own nighttime attacks on Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions between Moscow and Ukraine’s northern border, destroying several non-residential buildings. It was announced that the fire had been set on fire.
Overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense destroyed 14 drones over Bryansk and seven over the Kaluga region, including another seven over Oryol and another over Kursk, a border region invaded by Ukraine in August. It was announced that the aircraft would include six aircraft.
“Emergency services and firefighters are being dispatched to the scene,” Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Russian border region of Bryansk, said on the messaging app Telegram, without giving further details.
Both Russia and Ukraine have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons, expanding their own production while also finding new ways to destroy them.
Moscow has developed a series of electronic “umbrellas” over the city with a complex air defense network that can shoot down drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the Russian capital.
President Zelenskyy also said on Thursday that North Korea’s military had suffered losses in the conflict with Ukraine.
Two weeks ago, the Pentagon confirmed that about 10,000 North Korean troops were sent to Russia for training and are believed to be taking part in the fight against Ukraine, strengthening cooperation between the two countries and encouraging the U.S. and alarmed its allies.
Zelenksy said there were 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the border area with Ukraine, taking part in “battles with Ukrainian forces.”
“There are losses, that’s a fact,” he said.
