Russian air defences down two drones near Moscow, mayor says

Air traffic at Moscow’s Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports was halted amid latest drone raid on city.

Law enforcement officers work at the site of a drone attack in Krasnogorsk, in the Moscow region on August 22, 2023. - Russian air defences downed two attack drones near Moscow, the city's mayor said on August 22, in the fifth consecutive night of strikes on the capital region. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)
Russian law enforcement officers work at the site of a drone attack in Krasnogorsk, in the Moscow region, on August 22, 2023 [AFP]

Russian air defence systems have brought down two combat drones west of the Russian capital, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

The drones were downed early on Tuesday over the Moscow region’s towns of Krasnogorsk and the settlement of Chastsy, Sobyanin said.

“Air defence shot down two attack drones. One in the Krasnogorsk area, the other in the Chastsy area,” he Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that emergency services were responding.

The Moscow mayor did not give details on damage or casualties in what is the latest attempted drone raid on the Russian capital.

Video published by the RIA Novosti news agency showed debris littering the ground in Krasnogorsk, including what was said to be fragments of a drone. The facade and windows of a 25-storey building were damaged as well as a number of cars parked nearby, the news agency reported.

Air traffic at Moscow’s Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports was briefly halted, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported, quoting an aviation service source as saying.

“Glass damage was recorded on several floors” in a multi-storey residential building in Krasnogorsk,” the news agency said, without specifying whether it was the result of a drone strike.

“Several cars parked near the house were also damaged,” TASS reported.

Two Ukrainian drones were downed over the Bryansk region near the Ukrainian border, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Telegram, adding there were no casualties.

Ukrainian drone raids on the Russian capital have become more frequent in recent weeks with attacks last week repelled over Moscow’s financial district, each causing minor damage to the facades of high-rise buildings.

Moscow’s defence ministry also said its forces downed two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea later on Monday, some 40km (almost 25 miles) northwest of the Crimean Peninsula.

Source: News Agencies

Advertisement