Russia and Ukraine exchange record numbers of drone strikes

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged record numbers of drone strikes, with Moscow launching a total of 145 drones on Saturday night – the most ever in a single night-time attack of the war.

Ukraine meanwhile fired an unprecedented number of drones towards Russia’s capital overnight on Saturday into Sunday.

“Last night, Russia launched a record 145 Shaheds and other strike drones against Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.

Shahed drones are cheap, one-way attack drones. They are “fire and forget,” meaning a flight path is programmed, the UAV is launched, and it then independently flies towards the target area.

Zelensky added that during the week, Russia has used more than 800 guided aerial bombs, around 600 strike drones, and nearly 20 missiles of various types.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command said in a statement that Russia “attacked Ukraine with a record number of UAVs” on Saturday night. As of 9.30 a.m. local time Sunday morning, 62 of the drones had been shot down by Ukrainian defenses, according to the Air Force command.

It added, “67 enemy drones were lost locator-wise in different regions of Ukraine, and another 10 Russian UAVs left Ukrainian airspace in the direction of Moldova, Belarus and Russia.”

Ukraine meanwhile launched its largest attack on Moscow since the start of the war overnight, disrupting flights at two airports in the Russian capital.

A total of 34 drones were launched in the direction of Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. Russia’s air defenses shot down all of the drones over the Moscow region between seven am and 10 am on Sunday morning, according to the Russian MOD.

The UAVs were shot down over the Moscow regions of Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo, Andrey Vorobyov, governor of Moscow region, said.

A Russian police officer questions a local resident at site of a drone attack in the village of Stanovoye, Moscow region.

Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP/Getty Images

Shrapnel from the falling drones caused two houses in Ramenskoye to catch fire. A woman, 52, was injured by the shrapnel and taken to hospital with “burns to her face, neck and hands,” Vorobyov said, adding that the woman is in intensive care.

Sunday’s attack forced the “temporary restrictions” of flights on Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, two airports serving the Moscow region, from just after 8 a.m. local time, Russian state media agency TASS reported, citing Russia’s federal air transport agency. Restrictions were lifted at just after 10 a.m. local time.

CNN has approached Ukrainian officials for comment.

The previous largest drone attack on Moscow was in September, when Russia said it destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones. In that attack, at least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.

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