Nearly 1,750 drones targeted Moscow region over past week, city mayor says

Moscow Mayor Reports Nearly 1,750 Drones Targeted Region Over Past Week

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that nearly 1,750 drones targeted the Moscow region over the past week, with most neutralized on distant approaches. The announcement, carried by the Russian state news agency TASS, covers the period between 8:30 a.m. on August 8 and 8:30 a.m. on August 15.

According to Sobyanin, a total of 1,743 UAVs flew toward the Moscow region during that week. "Most of them were neutralized by air defense forces on distant approaches," he wrote on his Max social media channel. The mayor added that 123 UAVs were destroyed on the immediate approach to Moscow during this period.

In a separate update, Sobyanin reported that between 8:30 a.m. Moscow time on August 15 and 8:30 a.m. on August 22, 2,652 drones flew toward the Moscow region. "Most of them were neutralized by air defenses on the distant outskirts," he said, noting that 493 drones were destroyed on the approach to Moscow. These figures, also reported by TASS, indicate a significant escalation in drone activity over the two-week period.

Earlier, on August 20, Sobyanin reported that 250 Ukrainian drones were spotted flying toward the Moscow Region during the night, with most downed at distant locations. "Between 8:30 p.m. [on Wednesday] and 7:30 a.m. Moscow time today, 250 unmanned aerial vehicles were flying toward the Moscow Region; most of them were destroyed at distant locations," he wrote on the Max messaging app. According to the mayor, twenty-eight drones were shot down in the Moscow Region itself.

The Russian Defence Ministry also reported that air defence systems shot down 250 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones in 12 hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday (August 23) across 19 regions, including Moscow. This information was conveyed in a ministry statement, as reported by the Lokmat Times, which attributed the details to the Xinhua news agency.

The Defence Ministry added that the strikes targeted Ukrainian defence enterprises, logistics hubs, energy and transport infrastructure, and facilities producing ground robotic systems, drones and related components. Missile launch sites, ammunition and fuel depots, supply facilities, and temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries were also hit, according to the ministry.

In a related development, the Russian Defence Minister announced on Friday that Russian forces seized 11 settlements in three regions—Kharkiv, Donbas and Zaporizhzhia—over the past week, and conducted one massive and nine group strikes against Ukrainian military targets. The locations were identified by the ministry.

On the Ukrainian side, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said Friday that the government had allocated 35 billion hryvnyas (about $785 million) to protect energy facilities and strengthen regional resilience ahead of winter, according to public broadcaster Suspilne. Addressing parliament, Shmyhal said construction of about 200 second-level protective monolithic structures had already been completed. While no defence system can provide 100-per-cent protection, damage to protected facilities could be repaired within weeks, he said.

These reports highlight the intensifying aerial activity around Moscow and the broader conflict, with both Russian and Ukrainian officials offering their respective assessments of the situation.