KYIV — Russia shot down 158 drones overnight, including 11 over Moscow and the surrounding region, its Defense Ministry said Sunday, as officials across the country scrambled to respond to what appeared to be one of the largestUkrainian drone attacks on Russia yet.
Ukraine launches massive drone attack on Russian energy infrastructure
The mayor of Moscow, who updated Telegram regularly through the night, reported the presence of drones in various suburbs of the city. No deaths or injuries related to the drone attack were reported in Russia.
The attack came after an especially intense week of repeated Russian bombardments on Ukraine, including on energy infrastructure, worsening power blackouts throughout the country and killing civilians.
Ukraine’s allies have imposed restrictions that prevent it from using many weapons inside of Russia, especially for long-range strikes. A delegation of Ukrainian officials are in Washington this week requesting changes to that policy, which Kyiv says has left it fighting with one hand tied behind its back.
Instead, Ukraine has relied on domestically produced drones to strike targets deep inside of Russia.
“It is only fair that Ukrainians should be able to respond to Russian terror in exactly the way necessary to stop it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Sunday. “Every day and every night, our cities and villages are under enemy attacks.”
Natalia Abbukamova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.