Moscow targeted as Ukraine and Russia trade huge drone attacks

Russia and Ukraine have carried out their largest drone attacks against each other since the start of the war.

Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted 84 Ukrainian drones over six regions, including some approaching Moscow, which forced flights to be diverted from three of the capital’s major airports.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 145 drones towards every part of the country on Saturday night, with most shot down.

The barrages come amid expectations that US president-elect Donald Trump may put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.

Ukraine’s attempted strike on Moscow was also its biggest attack on the capital since the war began, and was described as “massive” by the region’s governor.

Most of the drones were downed in the Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo districts, officials said.

In Ramenskoye, south-west of Moscow, five people were injured and four houses caught fire due to falling debris, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. It added that 34 drones had been shot down over the town.

In September, a woman was killed in a drone attack that hit Ramenskoye. In May last year, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin in central Moscow and there were several drone attacks on the Moscow City business district.

In Ukraine, at least two people were injured after a drone hit the Odesa region. Images showed flames rising from some buildings, as well as aftermath damage.

The Ukrainian air force said 62 of Russia’s Iranian-made drones were shot down, while 67 were “lost”. A further 10 left Ukraine’s airspace heading back towards Russia, as well as neighbouring Belarus and Moldova, it added.

Further strikes were reported overnight into Monday, with Russia saying it had destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones near the regions of Kursk and Belgorod.

Meanwhile, two people were killed in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, after what regional governor Vitaliy Kim described as a Russian air attack.

He said a 45-year-old woman had also been injured and was in hospital.

It comes as Russian troops reportedly made their largest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to analysis of Institute for the Study of War data by the AFP news agency.

However, Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defence staff, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Russia had suffered its worst month for casualties since the start of the war.

Russian forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured “every single day” in October, he said.

There has been intense speculation about how Trump will approach the conflict since his election win in the US.

The president-elect regularly said in his election campaign that he could end the war “in a day”, but has not offered details on how he would do that.

A former adviser to Trump, Bryan Lanza, told the BBC that the incoming administration would focus on achieving peace rather than enabling Ukraine to gain back territory from Russia.

In response, a spokesperson for Trump distanced the president-elect from the remarks, saying Mr Lanza “does not speak for him”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke via state media on Sunday of “positive” signals from the incoming US administration.

He claimed that Trump spoke during his election campaign about wanting peace and not a desire to inflict defeat on Russia.

Trump has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since his election win, a source telling the BBC that the conversation lasted “about half an hour”.

Zelensky has previously warned against conceding land to Russia and has said that without US aid, Ukraine would lose the war.

In his regular evening address to Ukrainians on Sunday, Zelensky said “the only way to secure a lasting peace” is for strength and diplomacy to work hand in hand.