Moscow Reports Large-Scale Drone Attacks Over Multiple Days
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that more than 400 hostile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected heading toward the Moscow Region between the evening of July 19 and 5:00 a.m. Moscow time on July 20, according to TASS. Most of the drones were neutralized by air defense systems at long range, while 85 were destroyed on approach to the capital.
The attack was described by TASS as one of the largest in recent years. Two people were injured, Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported. One person was hurt in Domodedovo after a private house caught fire, and another was injured on the M-4 highway when a drone crashed near his vehicle. Damage was reported in Podolsk, Domodedovo, and the Odintsovsky Urban District, including several private houses, civilian infrastructure, and some apartment buildings.
Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik commented on the attack, saying that Ukraine launched an armada of about 400 drones at Moscow, but Russian air defenses "wiped it out." He added that Russia would give a special response to the attack, writing on Telegram: "Zelensky has to use Western money to at least demonstrate the ability to carry out acts of terrorism, but it all is going up in smoke."
The drone activity continued in the following days. On July 24, Sobyanin reported that more than 250 drones flying toward Moscow had been shot down over the past day, with 16 taken down near the city. On August 4, he said that 184 UAVs were flying toward the Moscow Region during the day, with 18 destroyed near the city.
The July 20 attack was compared by TASS to previous incidents. According to Sobyanin, the largest previously reported attempted attack on the capital occurred between the evening of July 6 and early July 7, when air defense systems shot down more than 430 drones. He also reported that more than 370 drones headed toward the Moscow Region on July 17-18, more than 300 on July 11-12, and more than 200 on July 4.