Russian air defence units destroyed a swarm of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow in a second night attack in a row, prompting the closure of all airports in the capital for several hours, officials said on Tuesday.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on social media that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to Moscow “from different directions,” causing no major destruction or injuries.
Meanwhile Russia has struck the Odesa region of Ukraine, killing at least one person.
Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region, said residential buildings were struck in the attack, causing fires to break out.
A separate attack was reported in Kharkiv, where Barabashovo market was struck causing a massive fire. Officials said about 90 shops were damaged and 20 burnt down. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The market, one of the largest in Ukraine and in Europe, was previously targeted in a Russian strike in March 2022.
Ukraine’s attacks targeting Moscow came as the Russian capital prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week a three-day ceasefire over May 8-10 to mark the anniversary.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called the measure pointless and offered an unconditional ceasefire over at least 30 days in line with a US proposal launched in March.
Three major Telegram news channels that have links to Russian security services - Bazaar, Mash and Shot - said a drone struck an apartment building near a major road in the south of Moscow, smashing windows. There were no reports of casualties.
Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaria’s said flights were halted at all four airports that serve Moscow for several hours overnight to ensure air safety. Airports in a number of regional cities were also closed.
On Tuesday, Russia’s air defence units destroyed four Ukrainian drones on their approach to Moscow, with no damage or injuries reported.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, Kyiv has launched several drone attacks on Moscow. Its biggest attack on the Russian capital in March killed three people.
In the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine in Russia’s southwest, at least 18 drones were destroyed, causing small damage in a non-residential building and children playground, regional governor said early on Tuesday.
While Russia’s air defence units destroyed 10 drones over the southern Pena region, with no damage or injuries reported, a regional governor said on Telegram.
The drone attack came as Kyiv’s forces attacked a power substation in Russia’s western Kursk region, according to regional governor, amid reports of a new Ukrainian land-based incursion into the area backed by armoured vehicles and drones.
Power was yet to be restored to the town of Rylsk, a town of about 15,000 people about 30 miles from the border with Ukraine, after Ukrainian forces struck the substation there late on Monday, damaging two transformers and injuring two teenagers, Kursk Governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
“Dear residents, the enemy, in its agony, is continuing to launch strikes against our territory,” Khinshtein said on the Telegram messaging app.
Authorities were evacuating residents from areas near the border as Ukrainian drone attacks over the past day became “more frequent”, the administration of the Kursk region said on Telegram early on Tuesday.
Russian war bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces attacked the Kursk region on Monday, firing missiles, smashing through the border and crossing minefields with special vehicles.
“The enemy blew up bridges with rockets at night and launched an attack with armoured groups in the morning,” Russian war blogger “RVvoenkor” said on Telegram on Monday.
“The mine clearance vehicles began to make passages in the minefields, followed by armoured vehicles with troops. There is a heavy battle going on at the border.”
Popular Russian military blog Rybar said on Tuesday that the advance of Ukrainian forces near the settlement of Tyotkino in Kursk region over the border was unsuccessful.
Ukraine made a surprise offensive into Kursk in August 2024, hoping to shift the momentum as Kremlin forces gained the upper hand after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Kyiv also hoped its position in Kursk would draw Russian troops away from other parts of Ukraine and give it a bargaining chip with Moscow.
Russia’s top general said last month that Ukrainian troops had been ejected from Kursk, ending the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two, and that Russia was carving out a buffer zone in the Ukrainian region of Sumy.
Kyiv has not acknowledged that its troops were forced out. Mr Zelensky has said Kyiv’s forces continue to operate in Kursk and in the adjacent Russian region of Belgorod.
