Ukrainian soldiers prepare a vehicle designed to launch helicopter shells as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues towards Toretsk, Ukraine, August 19, 2024.
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Ukraine carried out one of the largest-ever drone attacks against Moscow on Wednesday, as Kiev continues to launch counterattacks into Russian territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 11 over Moscow, according to Google Translate. Update on Telegram.
“This is one of the largest-ever attempts to attack Moscow with drones. We continue to monitor the situation,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a separate statement translated by Google. Post on TelegramThe coalition said, after assessing the strikes, that “the strikes did not result in any damage or injuries at the debris site” in previous updates reporting on the attacks.
Some drones were neutralized over Podolsk, a nearby city south of Moscow. The official addedCiting Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia, the state-run TASS news agency said in a Google-translated report: a report Airports in the Moscow region have resumed regular operations after restrictions were briefly imposed overnight.
cnbc I have reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
The attack came as Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first trip in 13 years to Chechnya to inspect local troops and volunteers ready to join the war against Kiev. According to the Kremlin’s Google Translate reading:.
Ukraine has repelled a barrage of air attacks, with the country’s air force saying it destroyed 50 of 69 Russian drones launched overnight, in its latest report translated by Google. a report.
CNBC could not independently verify the developments on the ground.
The tide of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been fought largely through advances by artillery and drones, turned earlier this month when Ukraine went on the counterattack with a surprise cross-border incursion into Russian territory.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has made less frequent military attempts against the capital, Moscow, instead focusing its firepower on airports and oil facilities in the world’s second-largest oil exporter. The counteroffensive has also raised questions about the potential impact on flows through the Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which carries gas from western Siberia through the Sudzha hub in the Kursk region, before crossing into Ukraine and flowing into Slovakia.
The incursion has also diminished the chances of a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Russia had previously conditioned its willingness to come to the negotiating table on its ability to retain four Ukrainian territories it has illegally annexed since its invasion. Kyiv has repeatedly said it will not cede any territory.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was now unlikely to fall into a “negotiation trap” after Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region.
“No more negotiations until the enemy is completely defeated!” he urged in a message translated into Google. Post on Telegram.
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