Russia says it downed 193 Ukrainian drones, including 34 targeting Moscow

Investigators inspect damaged Moscow apartment after reported drone attack, 30 May 2023
Reuters

Russian air defence systems destroyed 193 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 34 that targeted Moscow and 47 over the Bryansk region where one person was killed and five others were injured, Russian authorities said on Monday.

In Bryansk, a region in Russia's southwest that borders Ukraine, a Ukrainian drone hit a minibus, killing the driver and injuring five passengers, regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said on the Telegram messaging app.

The drones over Moscow were downed within a span of six hours, starting at just before 10 p.m. on Sunday Moscow time (1900 GMT), the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram.

There were no reports of damage in Moscow, but Russia rarely discloses the full scale of damages inflicted by Ukrainian strikes inside its territory unless civilians or civilian objects are involved.

Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said that two of Moscow's four airports, the Domodedovo airport and the smaller Zhukovsky airport, were shut for about 2.5 hours from 2240 GMT to ensure air safety.

The Russian defence ministry said in its daily report on Telegram that in addition to the drones destroyed over Moscow and the Bryansk region, Russian systems downed drones over 11 other regions, chiefly in the country's west and south.

Reuters could not independently verify Russia's reports of the attacks.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has previously said that its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to conducting Russia's war in Ukraine.

Both sides deny targeting civilians, but thousands have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

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