Ukraine drones target Moscow for 3rd consecutive day, mayor says, amid major attack
LONDON -- Russian air defenses shot down at least 22 Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow overnight and into Wednesday morning, according to the city's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, marking the third consecutive day of Ukrainian long-range strikes on the Russian capital.
The latest attacks on Moscow were part of a large wave of Ukrainian drone strikes launched across southern and western Russia, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which said in a post to Telegram that its forces downed at least 326 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Sobyanin said emergency services had been dispatched to sites where intercepted drones and debris fell. The mayor did not note any damage or casualties caused by any of the attacks reported since Monday. Since Monday, Sobyanin has reported the downing of at least 39 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital.
It is unclear whether any drones penetrated Russian air defenses. Russian officials generally attribute any damage or casualties to debris from interceptions rather than successful impacts, even in cases when video footage shows Ukrainian munitions hitting targets.
Elsewhere, local officials reported attacks on industrial facilities in the Samara, Rostov, Vladimir and Cheboksary regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that a Ukrainian-designed FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile was used in the attack on Cheboksary. The strike hit "a military plant" used to produce "components for drones and missiles," Zelenskyy added.
Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian munitions hit major oil refineries in Samara and Vladimir regions.
A drone alert was also declared in the Omsk region of Siberia -- more than 1,800 miles from Ukraine -- by Governor Vitaly Khotsenko, citing a warning from the Defense Ministry.
Russia's federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced temporary flight restrictions for at least 10 airports in southern and western Russia overnight into Wednesday morning, according to statements posted on its official Telegram channel.
The restrictions affected airports stretching from Sochi on the Black Sea coast to Perm, close to the Ural Mountains and more than 900 miles away from Ukraine.
Ukraine has been rapidly expanding its drone campaign against Russia -- which officials in Kyiv refer to as "long-range sanctions" -- in recent months, according to data published by Ukrainian officials and by the Russian Defense Ministry.
May saw the Russian Defense Ministry claim the shooting down of 9,418 Ukrainian drones -- the highest monthly total ever reported by the ministry. And in Moscow, Sobyanin reported the shooting down of at least 329 Ukrainian drones heading toward the Russian capital the same month -- just short of the record monthly high of 398 claimed interceptions in March.
Zelenskyy has been clear in his goal to expand Kyiv's strikes deep inside Russia, targeting energy facilities, military factories and other strategic targets.
"Our long-range impact on Russian logistics, Russian oil refining and Russian military production is also significant," Zelenskyy said while visiting Estonia on Tuesday. "The Russian budget is in tatters. We must keep up the pressure and bring Russia back onto the diplomatic track," he added.
Russia continued its own long-range strike campaign into Ukraine overnight into Wednesday. Ukraine's air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 207 drones into the country in its latest barrage, of which 181 were intercepted or otherwise suppressed.
ABC News cannot independently verify the data released by either Russia or Ukraine. It is possible that both sides may seek to exaggerate the effectiveness of their air defenses, or to amplify the attacks against them as proof that their enemies are not interested in pursuing a peace deal, experts have suggested.
Moscow publishes only the number of Ukrainian drones and other projectiles it claims to have intercepted.
