Overnight, several regions of Russia reported drone attacks. A woman was killed and three others were injured when air defenses around Moscow intercepted at least 14 Ukrainian drones. Flights at Moscow airports were suspended during the attack.
More than 140 Ukrainian drones targeted several Russian regions, including the capital Moscow and its environs, Russian officials reported Tuesday. It was one of the largest attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian soil since the war began two and a half years ago.
“Public” channels in Telegram in several regions of Russia reported overnight about an attack by Ukrainian drones, with reports in the regions of Belgorod, Kursk, Oryol, Voronezh, Tula and Kaluga, Bryanskas well as in Krasnodar Krai.
A woman was killed and three other people injured when air defences around Moscow intercepted at least 14 Ukrainian drones, the region’s governor and the capital’s mayor said Tuesday morning. According to Moscow authorities, a residential building in the Ramenskoye district caught fire, while an oil complex in neighboring Tula Oblast was hit.
Flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports were suspended during the attacks. In total, 48 flights were hijacked to other airports, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia.
A series of explosions also took place in Zhukovsky, near Moscow. Witnesses reported hearing at least 10 loud explosions in the sky.
Further Ukrainian drone attacks have been reported in the Russian region of Bryanskwhich borders Ukraine, and Lipetskseveral hundred kilometers south of Moscow. Ukraine denies targeting civilians, and when Ukrainian drones do manage to get through, they have a history of hitting confirmed Russian strategic targets.
In total, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had “intercepted and destroyed” 144 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regionsincluding those on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia.
This is the second massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia this month. On September 1, the Russian military said it had intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones over a dozen Russian regions, in what Russian media described as the largest barrage of Ukrainian drones since the start of the war.
In Ukraineair defense units repelled a Russian drone attack early Tuesday on Kyivaccording to the capital’s military administration.
Tensions around Pokrovsk, Ukraine
Russia said its forces had advanced on Ukraine’s eastern front and seized the village of Memryk, east of the city of PokrovskThe Ukrainian General Staff made no mention of the development, but Reuters said Ukrainian war blogs had reported that Memryk had fallen into Russian hands last week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv’s forces were holding firm.
Pokrovsk is an important logistics center for Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region. Local authorities are urging residents to evacuate, but more than a third of them remain in the city.
Russian forces have recently advanced along the Kupiansk-Svatove line, near Siversk as well as near Pokrovsk and southwest of the city of Donetsk, and Ukrainian forces have recently retaken positions near Siversk.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, Russian forces have recently regained some lost positions in Kursk Oblast as Ukrainian offensive operations continued in the region on September 9.
Ukrainian authorities continue to claim that Russian forces increasingly use chemical weapons in UkraineThe Ukrainian support forces command said that Russian forces are using K-51 and RG-VO gas grenades to launch munitions containing banned chemical agents and are also using unidentified chemical compounds.
Moscow advances its diplomatic pawns, Kyiv reprimands Tehran
The same ISW reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov participated in a joint ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue between Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Saudi Arabia on September 9, probably as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to promote the creation of its “Eurasian security architecture.”
ADVERTISEMENTKremlin officials are likely trying to influence international efforts to peacefully mediate the war in Ukraine, while demonstrating that Russia is not willing to engage in good faith negotiations with Ukraine.
Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin’s boilerplate narratives demonstrating Russia’s unwillingness to engage in good-faith negotiations with Ukraine, claiming that President Zelensky’s peace formula is an “ultimatum” and that Russia never seriously considered the plan. Ukrainian officials have openly invited a Russian representative to attend Ukraine’s second peace summit to be held later in 2024.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned top Iranian diplomat to warn him of the “devastating and irreparable consequences” for their relationship if Tehran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.
The EU said its allies had shared “credible” information that Iran had supplied ballistic missiles to Russia, which the US said would have “significant consequences.” The claim was officially rejected by Iran (although an Iranian lawmaker confirmed it), but was not explicitly denied by the Kremlin. The US said such deliveries would harm Tehran’s efforts to improve relations with the West under its new reformist president, Massoud Pezeshkian.
ADVERTISEMENTA senior Ukrainian official said Monday that Western partner countries should allow Ukraine to use weapons they supplied to strike military depots in Russia, as Iran is strongly suspected of supplying ballistic missiles as part of the Kremlin’s efforts.
” In response to the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine must be allowed to destroy the warehouses where these missiles are stored along with Western weapons in order to avoid terror “, Andriy Yermak said on his Telegram channel. He did not specify which country supplied the missiles.
Western countries backing Ukraine in the war have been reluctant to let the Ukrainian military strike targets on Russian soil, fearing they could be drawn into the biggest European conflict since World War II, but the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration said: “protection is not escalation.”
Russia has already subjected Ukraine to Repeated and devastating bombardments by long-range missiles and drones that have killed more than 10,000 civilians since the war began in February 2022according to a United Nations tally. The dams have also crippled electricity production.
ADVERTISEMENTRussia has been receiving Iranian-made Shahed drones since 2022. The possibility that Iranian ballistic missiles could also be shipped to Russia has alarmed Western governments, as President Vladimir Putin seeks support from other countries.
