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Russia says Ukrainian drones downed near Moscow

Russia's defence ministry says five drones were either shot down or jammed
Russia's defence ministry says five drones were either shot down or jammed

Russia has said that Ukraine had attacked Moscow with at least five drones that were all either shot down or jammed, though one of the capital's main airports had to reroute flights for several hours.

Four Ukrainian drones were shot down by Moscow air defences while a fifth was jammed and crashed into the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, the Russian defence ministry said. No one was injured.

Russian news agencies reported that two drones were intercepted near a village 30km southwest of the Kremlin. One drone was detected in the neighbouring Kaluga region.

Landings and takeoffs at Moscow's Vnukovo were restricted for several hours this morning before normal operations resumed. A number of flights from Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were diverted.

One drone was shot down in the area of the town of Kubinka, some 63km west of Moscow, RIA reported. A Russian air base is near Kubinka.

Russia's foreign and defence ministries denounced the attack as terrorism.

"The Kyiv regime's attempt to attack an area where civilian infrastructure is located, including the airport, which incidentally also receives foreign flights, is yet another act of terrorism," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

"The international community should realise that the United States, Britain, France - permanent members of the UN Security Council - are financing a terrorist regime," she said.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

High-profile drone attacks deep inside Russia have increased over recent months with attacks on the Kremlin in May and on Russian oil infrastructure last month.

After May's drone attack on the capital, President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was trying to scare and provoke Russia, adding that the capital's air defences would be strengthened.

The moment a drone exploded above the Kremlin in May (Pic: Ostorozhno Novosti)

"At this moment, the attacks have been repelled by air defence forces," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram messaging channel. "All detected drones have been eliminated."

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian security official said that Kyiv's troops are "fulfilling the number one task" in their counteroffensive against Russian forces and have had a "particularly fruitful" last few days.

"At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine's Defence Forces are fulfilling the number one task - the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army," Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, wrote on Twitter.

"The last few days have been particularly fruitful."

Ukraine says 31 hospitalised after Russian strike

Ukraine has said that 31 people, including nine children, were hospitalised following a Russian strike on the town of Pervomaisky in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Officials said the strike had hit a parking lot outside a residential building in the town of some 28,000 people.

"Thirty-one people have been hospitalised," the head of Kyiv's presidential office Andriy Yermak said.

Nine of those were children, including two babies aged one year and ten months, he added.

Mr Yermak said they were wounded after "the Russians fired a high-explosive shell."

"As a result, several cars in the parking lot caught fire," he added.

Pervomaisky is around 80km south of the regional capital Kharkiv.

It is relatively far from current fighting hotspots in the Donbas region.

The Kharkiv region, which borders Russia, saw heavy fighting at the start of Moscow's invasion launched last year, with Russian troops crossing into Ukraine through the region.