Russian Defences Down 11 Ukrainian Drones over Moscow
The war, largely a grinding artillery and drone battle across the fields, forests and villages of eastern Ukraine, escalated on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thousands of soldiers over the border into Russia's western Kursk region.
For months, Ukraine has also fought an increasingly damaging drone war against the refineries and airfields of Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter, though major drone attacks on the Moscow region — with a population of over 21 million — have been rarer.
Russia's defence ministry said its air defences destroyed a total of 45 drones over Russian territory, including 11 over the Moscow region, 23 over the border region of Bryansk, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region.
Some of the drones were shot down over the city of Podolsk, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The city in the Moscow region is some 38 km (24 miles) south of the Kremlin.
«This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever,» Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app in the early hours of Wednesday. «The layered defence of Moscow that was created made it possible to successfully repel all the attacks from the enemy UAVs.»
Along Moscow's boulevards, the cafes, restaurants and shops of the capital — which has been carefully insulated from the war — were crowded with little sign of concern, while President Vladimir Putin met Chinese premier Li Qiang in the Kremlin.
Two Russian citizens who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the
