Russia shoots down two armed drones headed for Moscow

Moscow’s mayor says two ‘combat drones’ shot down in the Domodedovo and Minsk Highway areas while en route to Moscow.

Russian air defences have shot down two armed drones headed for Moscow, the city’s mayor said, the latest in a surge of drone attacks on Russia’s capital city.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early on Wednesday that 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.

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

“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 Russian state-run TASS news agency also reported the attempted drone attack on Wednesday, citing the country’s defence ministry as saying that Ukrainian drones were destroyed in an attempt to attack Moscow.

The drone raid was at least the third attempted attack on Moscow within a week.

Ukrainian drones were downed on Sunday in the Podolsky district on the capital’s outskirts and on Monday near the Kaluga region, according to Russian officials. Russia’s defence ministry said last week that it had shot down seven drones – also near Kaluga, which is fewer than 200km (124 miles) southwest of Moscow.

Moscow has recently become an attack target of drones launched from Ukraine. On July 30, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “war” was coming to Russia, with the country’s “symbolic centres and military bases” becoming targets.