One drone was shot down in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to the capital’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. .
No damage or casualties were reported at first.
Domodedovo airport, in the south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, grounded flights for more than two and a half hours and redirected part of arrivals to other airports, according to Russian news agencies.
It was not immediately clear where the drones had come from, and Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment. Ukraine does not usually confirm or deny such attacks.
Sending drones to Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unnerve the Russians and bring the consequences of the conflict onto them.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said it had stopped attacks by Ukrainian drones in Crimea, annexed by Moscow. Two drones were shot down near the port city of Sevastopol, it said, while another nine crashed in the Black Sea after being electronically intercepted.
Ukrainian media on Wednesday cited social media posts about thick smoke in Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said the smoke came from “a troop training exercise” and urged the population not to worry.
The incidents came as the Ukrainian counter-offensive continues, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long, slow march against entrenched Kremlin forces.
The Pentagon plans to provide Ukraine with another $200 million worth of arms and ammunition consignments to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to US officials.
Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the United States since the full-scale Russian invasion began last year.
The Ukrainian presidential office, for its part, said at least six civilians had been killed and 27 wounded between Wednesday and Thursday.
In the Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine, Russia shelled 16 cities and towns, killing three people, according to the report. In Zaporizhia, three people were killed and nine were injured, including an 11-month-old baby.
Meanwhile, 12 people were still missing after an explosion on Wednesday at a factory that produces optical equipment for Russian security forces, according to Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti, citing emergency officials.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry said 71 people required medical attention after the blast.
Russian authorities did not offer a hypothesis about the cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant near Moscow, raising concerns about possible attacks by Ukrainian drones.
The effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine have also concerned neighboring countries, such as the presence in Belarus of mercenaries from the Moscow-associated Wagner mercenary group after their brief mutiny in Russia.
Poland’s defense minister said on Thursday the country plans to deploy 10,000 troops along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration.
The Polish government has accused the Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to destabilize and put pressure on Poland, which like other NATO members has lent support to Kiev’s war effort.
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Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Berlin contributed to this report.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
