“Moscow Mayor Reports Two Combat Drones Shot Down Near City – Latest in Surge of Drone Attacks”

Rescuers work with heavy machinery, at the site of a building destroyed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine August 8, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian forces downed two combat drones headed for Moscow, the city’s Mayor said on August 9, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.

“Two combat drones’ attempt to fly into the city was recorded. Both were shot down by air defence,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, without naming an attacker.

He said one drone was downed in the Domodedovo area on the southern outskirts of the city, while the second was shot down in the Minsk highway area, west of the capital.

“At the moment, there is no information about victims of the fall of the wreckage,” he said, adding that emergency services were on the ground.

The strikes are at least the third attack on Moscow within a week, with Ukrainian drones downed on August 6 and August 7, according to Russian officials.

Moscow was rarely targeted throughout the conflict in Ukraine until several attacks this year.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had downed seven drones over the Kaluga region, less than 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest of Moscow.

On July 30, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “war” was coming to Russia, with the country’s “symbolic centres and military bases” becoming targets.

At the start of this month, an office block in the capital’s main business district was struck twice within days by debris from a downed drone strike.