Russia’s air-defense command said 112 drones were tracked between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, most over the western regions of Bryansk, Belgorod, Tula, Kaluga, Kursk and Yaroslavl. About half were shot down in Bryansk, it added.
In the Moscow metropolitan area, 18 drones exploded or were intercepted; one strike ignited a fire in the town of Ramenskoye.
“Eight Ukrainian drones were neutralized while flying toward the capital,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
With air-raid sirens sounding from the Black Sea to the Volga, authorities temporarily closed the airports at Tambov, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Ivanovo, leaving thousands of passengers stranded until services resumed at dawn.
The previous night Russia recorded roughly 100 incoming drones and likewise halted airport traffic.
Tit-for-tat escalation
Kyiv rarely comments on cross-border strikes, but the raid followed Russia’s own weekend barrage of nearly 300 drones and 70 missiles that killed at least 13 people in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials say they now have clearance from the United States, Britain, France and Germany to use Western-supplied missiles and aircraft against targets inside Russia. The Ukrainian military has not confirmed using such weapons in the latest attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties on Russian territory.
(jh)
Source: Polskie Radio 24