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Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow thwarted, says Russia
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had stopped a Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region, with no casualties reported.
An attempt by Kyiv to carry out an “attack with an aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was thwarted” on Monday morning, Agence France-Presse reported the ministry as saying.
The drone was “suppressed by means of electronic warfare” and crashed in Odintsovo district, the ministry said in a statement, adding there were no casualties.
Odintsovo is to the capital’s south-west.
In recent weeks two drone attacks were repelled over Moscow’s financial district, each causing minor damage to the facades of high-rise buildings. In May, drones were shot down near the Kremlin.
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Welcome and summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton with the latest.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed a “historic” decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to provide Kyiv with US-made F-16 fighter jets in the latest move by western allies to bolster Ukraine’s efforts against Russian forces.
The decision was “absolutely historic, powerful and inspiring for us”, the Ukrainian president said on Sunday while visiting the Netherlands.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would consider the F-16s a “nuclear” threat because of their capacity to carry atomic weapons.
The Netherlands and Denmark have announced they will donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets between them to Ukraine once pilot training has been satisfactorily completed.
More on that story shortly. In other news:
The Ukrainian president also said during a visit to Sweden that Kyiv was “getting closer” to obtaining Swedish Gripen fighter jets. “Our soldiers are already starting to test them,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address, adding that he had discussed the matter with Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson.
Zelenskiy vowed retaliation after at least seven people were killed and 144 injured in a “vile” Russian missile strike that hit a theatre and a central square in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. “I am sure our soldiers will give a response to Russia for this terrorist attack,” he said. “A notable response.”
Russia said Ukrainian drones had attacked four separate regions in a flurry of attempted strikes on Sunday, injuring five people and forcing two of Moscow’s airports to briefly divert flights. Russia’s Kursk, Rostov and Belgorod regions, all of which border Ukraine, reported attempted drone strikes, while Russia’s defence ministry said it had jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region, forcing it to crash in an unpopulated area.
A day earlier a Ukrainian drone targeted a military airfield in Russia’s Novgorod region, causing a fire and damaging one warplane, Russia’s defence ministry said. The ministry said nobody was hurt.
There have been increasing reports of SA-5 Gammon missiles striking Russia, with drones regularly hitting Moscow, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update. The leadership of Russia’s aerospace forces was likely under considerable pressure to improve air defences over the western parts of the country, the ministry added.
South Africa will not be “drawn into a contest between global powers”, President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed as he prepared to host a summit of Brics emerging nations including Russia. Pretoria is officially non-aligned in the conflict but has been accused of siding with Moscow.
