Russia says destroyed drone approaching Moscow, another close to border with Ukraine

Russian authorities said Saturday that air defences had destroyed one drone as it approached Moscow and another close to the border with Ukraine.

“Tonight, air defence forces destroyed a drone on approach to Moscow in the Istrinskii district,” the capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, according to AFP.

“Preliminarily, there were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working on the site,” he added.

Moscow was rarely attacked during the early stages of the conflict but the city and other Russian regions have been targeted by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent days, with Kyiv vowing to “return” the conflict to Russia.

The defence ministry said a second Ukrainian drone had been destroyed early Saturday in the Shebekino district, part of the Belgorod region close to the border.

“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with a drone against sites on Russian territory has been prevented,” the ministry posted on Telegram.

Authorities had said three civilians were killed by Kyiv’s forces in Belgorod on Wednesday.

That same day, a drone crashed into a skyscraper in a Moscow business district and smashed a window, without causing any casualties, according to authorities.

It was the sixth consecutive night the Moscow region had been targeted by drone strikes.

On Friday, the ministry said 42 drones had been brought down over Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.