Russia downs drone near Moscow, missiles in border region

Russia repelled air attacks by Ukraine overnight, shooting down a drone near Moscow and missiles over the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, officials said on Thursday.

“In the town of Podolsk an attack by a drone flying toward Moscow was repulsed by air defences,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that according to preliminary information there were no victims or damage.

The defence ministry said in a statement that it had shot down a drone near Moscow and intercepted another in the northeastern region of Leningrad, the region surrounding Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg that has up to now rarely seen such attacks.

Since the spring of 2023, Moscow and its surrounding eponymous region has regularly been targeted by Ukraine’s drones, most of which have been shot down.

Russia has carried out attacks across Ukraine since launching what it calls a special military operation against the neighbouring country in February 2022.

The region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, has faced months of deadly strikes.

On Thursday, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that air defences had shot down 10 missiles heading for the region.

A woman was wounded, a garage destroyed and some electricity and gas lines were damaged as a result of the attack, he added.

On December 30, 25 people died and around 100 were wounded in the city of Belgorod, in the deadliest strike it has faced since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine. (BSS/AFP)