Biggest Drone Strike On The Russian Capital : Ukraine
Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city’s major airports and injuring at least five people.
- The barrages come amid expectations that US president-elect Donald Trump may put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.
- Moscow and its surrounding region, with a population of at least 21 million, is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe, alongside Istanbul.
- The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final act after Moscow’s forces advanced at the fastest pace since the early days of the war and Donald Trump was elected 47th president of the United States.
- Kyiv, itself the target of repeated mass drone strikes from Russian forces, has tried to strike back against its neighbour with repeated drone strikes against oil refineries, airfields and even Russian strategic early-warning radar stations.
- Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them – from using farmers’ shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.
- Russia has developed a series of electronic “umbrellas” over Moscow, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences to shoot down the drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.
