Ukraine carried out its largest ever drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday, the 11th of March, killing at least two people, injuring 18 others and causing the temporary closure of four airports in the Russian capital, Russian officials said, according to Reuters and Politico.
A total of 337 drones were shot down over Russia, including 91 in the Moscow region and 126 in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have pulled back, the defence ministry said.
The attack came as US officials were due to meet a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to seek an end to the three-year war, and at a time when Russian forces are trying to besiege thousands of Ukrainian soldiers trying to hold the Kursk region of western Russia.
Kyiv has repeatedly suffered from massive Russian attacks during the war, and on Tuesday said it had shot down a ballistic missile and 126 drones. Ukraine has responded throughout the war with drone strikes on oil refineries, airfields and even early warning radar stations.
“THE LARGEST DRONE STRIKE ON MOSCOW WAS REPELLED TONIGHT. AROUND 74 DRONES WERE SHOT DOWN AROUND MOSCOW AND HUNDREDS MORE NEAR THE BORDERS,” MAYOR SERGEY SOBIANIN SAID IN A STATEMENT.
A senior Russian lawmaker suggested that Russia should retaliate for Tuesday’s airstrike by attacking Ukraine with a hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, which Moscow fired at Ukraine last November after the US and UK allowed Kyiv to strike deep into Russian territory with Western missiles.
Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, head of parliament’s defence committee and a former deputy defence minister, said the decision was up to President Vladimir Putin. “But I think it would be appropriate [to launch a missile] – and not just one,” he said.
One of Russia’s largest meat producers, Miratorg, said two workers had been killed by falling debris. Another 18 people, including three children, were injured as residential houses were also hit, Russian officials said.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four Moscow airports after the attacks but were later reopened. Flights were diverted to other cities.
UKRAINE HAS NOT YET CLAIMED DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ATTACKS, BUT OFFICIALS IN KYIV STATED THAT THE ATTACK WAS A SIGNAL TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN.
“All the drone strikes in Russia this night – on Moscow, airports, etc. – are a signal to Putin that he must also be interested in the ceasefire in the skies that Ukraine will offer in today’s talks. Not only for the oil refineries… drones can also attack Moscow en masse. Of course, air defences will shoot down these drones. But this does not save the Russians from panic,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s centre for countering disinformation, said in a video statement.
Today, a Ukrainian delegation will meet with representatives of US President Donald Trump’s administration in Jeddah.
The Ukrainians say they hope for a “constructive dialogue” and a resumption of US military aid and intelligence exchanges, while the Americans want to know whether Kyiv is serious about peace with Russia and what concessions it is prepared to offer to achieve it.
“Among other things, we will offer a ceasefire in the sky and at sea. But the Russians have to agree to that too. Because this is about reciprocal action, but it is a serious offer on our part,” a Ukrainian official told Politico on condition of anonymity.
“We look forward to a constructive dialogue. And the overall composition of the Ukrainian delegation shows that Ukraine is serious about this meeting and its purpose.”