Ukraine launched 620 drones at Moscow overnight, as explosions rocked the area.
The attack is one of the largest long-range Ukrainian assaults on the Moscow region since the war began more than four and a half years ago.
Russian capital’s mayor said Tuesday several people were wounded and buildings were struck, as air defences scrambled to tackle the huge wave of drones.
It comes just a day after Russia threatened that Britain would ‘pay’ for arming Kyiv after Ukraine used UK-made drones to strike targets on Russian soil for the first time.
Putin faced further humiliation as the annual Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival on Red Square, scheduled for August 21 to 24, was cancelled for the first time during the four years of war.
The event, which was Putin’s brainchild, was called off ‘for reasons beyond the organisers’ control’, amid fears over the safety of central Moscow from Ukrainian drone and missile strikes.
With frontline fighting at a near standstill and talks frozen, Ukraine and Russia have significantly stepped up long-distance attacks, pushing the civilian death toll to its highest levels since the war’s first months in 2022.
Russian air defences destroyed more than 180 of the drones over the capital region, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the state-backed MAX platform.
The drone invasion wounded three people, including a 10-year-old girl, Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on Telegram.
‘Tonight and in the morning, air defence and electronic warfare forces were repelling a large-scale drone attack on Moscow region,’ he said.
