Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 340 Ukrainian drones had been dispatched to the area surrounding the capital over a 24-hour period and most had been downed by anti-aircraft units far from the city.
“Most of them were neutralised by air defence forces on the outer approaches,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. “More than 50 enemy drones were destroyed on their way to Moscow.”
Ukrainian drones approach the Russian capital routinely and Sobyanin provides a running account of the numbers taken out by anti-aircraft units.
Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian infrastructure sites, mainly linked to the oil industry.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had carried out drone strikes on the Salavat petrochemical complex in the Urals and the Afipsky refinery in southern Russia. Attacks on oil infrastructure have contributed to gasoline shortages throughout Russia.
Russian forces have stepped up drone and missile attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks.
Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv early on Tuesday, the fifth such attack on the Ukrainian capital this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attacks damaged 16 sites in the capital, including a school and a business, while city officials reported several fires across the city.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed)
