Ukraine war: Russia downs ‘dozens’ of Ukrainian missiles headed for Moscow

Russia says it downed dozens of Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow, following a mass strike on Kyiv

Russian authorities have claimed that Ukraine tried to attack Moscow with dozens of drones overnight, just a day after Russia launched its most intense drone attack on Kyiv since the beginning of its full-scale war in 2022, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian air defences say they brought down at least 24 drones over the Moscow region – which surrounds but does not include the capital – and three other provinces to the south and west, the Russian Defence Ministry and Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported in a series of Telegram updates. Neither referenced any casualties.

Andrei Vorobyev, governor of the Moscow region, wrote on Telegram that the drone strikes damaged three unspecified buildings there, confirming that no one was hurt.

Russian Telegram channels reported that one drone crashed into a 12-story apartment block in the western Russian city of Tula, about 180 kilometres (113 miles) south of Moscow, injuring one resident, though.

Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports also briefly shut down because of the drone attack, according to Russia’s state-run news agency Tass. Both appeared to have resumed normal operation by 6 am local time, according to data from international flight tracking portals.

As of late morning on Sunday, Ukrainian officials did not acknowledge or comment on the strikes, which came a day after Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital with over 60 Iranian-made Shahed drones. At least five civilians were wounded in the hourslong assault, which saw several buildings damaged by falling debris from downed drones, including a kindergarten. The wounded included an 11-year-old child, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

The attack was “the most massive air attack by drones on Kyiv” in the war so far, Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, said on Saturday. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat confirmed later that same day that air defences shot down 66 air targets over the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region throughout the morning.

The attack on Kyiv was carried out on the morning of Holodomor Memorial Day, which commemorates the man made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933. It is marked on the fourth Saturday in November.

Russia has also claimed that it shot down two Ukrainian missiles heading towards its territory over the Sea of ​​Azov, hours after reporting Ukrainian drone attacks in three Russian regions.

“Russian air defence located and destroyed two Ukrainian missiles over the Azov Sea area,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a summit on fluctuating food prices in Ukraine went ahead, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that he had held bilateral talks with the leaders of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Switzerland, Alain Berset, and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite.

The President noted that the parties had discussed a range of issues related to the defense of Ukraine, cooperation, and paid special attention to the humanitarian initiative “Grain from Ukraine”.

Zelenskyy emphasized that the Russian invasion and Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian exports had caused food prices to fluctuate, the situation on international markets to become unstable, and the situation in regions that are critically dependent on grain imports to deteriorate.

As a result of the Grain from Ukraine Forum, on November 25 alone, $100 million (around €91m) was raised to purchase Ukrainian grain for the countries that need it most, informed President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the Grain from Ukraine press conference.

Lithuania will allocate 2 million euros by the end of this year as part of the Grain from Ukraine initiative, this was stated by the Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrid Šimonite.

President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, President of Switzerland Alain Berset, and Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonite personally attended the second Grain from Ukraine Summit.

The participants of the event were addressed in video format by President of Poland Andrzej Duda, President of Guatemala Alejandro Jammattei, and President of Estonia Alar Karis. The Prime Ministers of Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cape Verde, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, Sweden, and Romania also delivered video messages.