Russian army says it has repulsed Ukrainian attack on Moscow

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The Russian military said on Tuesday it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow that led to the temporary closure of one of the city’s airports.

The attack, similar to similar assaults on the Russian capital in previous months, came after a riot started by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who ordered his troops to march on Moscow in the greatest defiance of President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

Ukrainian authorities, who tend to avoid commenting on attacks inside Russian territory, did not take responsibility for the raid.

The Russian Defense Minister said four of the five aircraft had been shot down by air defenses outside Moscow, while the fifth was intercepted by electronic means and forced to land.

There was no damage or casualties, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

The attack prompted authorities to temporarily restrict flights to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and divert planes to other airfields in the city. The restrictions were lifted once the attack had been repelled.

Ukrainian forces are testing Russian defenses in southern and eastern Ukraine, in the early stages of a counteroffensive.

Russia, for its part, has continued its barrage of missiles and drones from the rear.

Three people were killed and 21 wounded in a drone strike on Monday that damaged two apartment buildings in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, its mayor Oleksandr Lysenko said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack had also caused damage to the regional headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s main intelligence agency. The president urged his Western allies to increase deliveries of anti-aircraft systems to help combat Russian attacks.