At least two UAVs were intercepted en route to the Russian capital, according to Sergey Sobyanin
Two Ukrainian long-range drones were intercepted as they headed toward Moscow on New Year’s Eve, Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has announced. No casualties or damage have been reported.
“The Russian air defense forces have destroyed one UAV flying toward Moscow,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram at 11:55pm, just as Russian President Vladimir Putin began delivering his traditional New Year’s Eve address.
Another drone was downed shortly after midnight, Sobyanin later said, adding that emergency services specialists are working at the crash sites.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Domodedovo airport as a precaution.
The incident follows another attempted drone raid on Moscow the day before, in which Russian air defenses downed at least 21 hostile UAVs, Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said. One man, aged 57, suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and arm in that attack, according to the same source.
Ukraine has routinely launched drone attacks deep into Russia in recent months, targeting critical infrastructure and residential buildings in what Moscow has described as desperate “terrorist attacks.”
Moscow has been responding with strikes on military-related Ukrainian infrastructure, aiming to degrade Kiev’s drone and weapons production capabilities.
The latest drone raids follow an attempted attack on President Putin’s state residence in Novgorod Region on December 28-29, which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned as an act of “state terrorism.” Moscow has promised a “non-diplomatic” response to the attack.
