Sobyanin says 300 drones were launched toward Moscow in one day

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces launched 300 drones toward Moscow and the Moscow region. He wrote this in his Telegram channel.

According to Sobyanin, most of the drones were, in his words,

neutralized by air defense forces on the distant approaches

to the Moscow area. Another 45 drones, he said, were shot down while already approaching the city.

He later reported two more drones destroyed as they neared Moscow. That brought the number of drones shot down directly on approach to the city, by his account, to 47.

Sobyanin did not report any casualties or damage. At the time this news item was published, no confirmation of such consequences had emerged from other sources either.

Previous attacks

Meduza describes the most damaging attack on Moscow and the surrounding region since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine as the strike on June 18. On that day, 17 people were injured in the Moscow region and an eight-year-old girl was killed. In Moscow, the Kapotnya oil refinery was damaged.

The same Moscow refinery was also attacked on June 16. After the two strikes, both primary oil-processing units were reported to have been put out of operation.

In late June and early July, Moscow authorities repeatedly said that dozens and even hundreds of drones had been heading toward the capital. At the same time, there had been no reports of any destruction inside Moscow caused by those attacks.