(LONDON) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down at least 126 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday morning, with at least three craft intercepted over the capital Moscow region.
The attack was Ukraine’s largest drone barrage into Russia since it launched 167 craft into the country on July 11, according to data published by Russia’s Defense Ministry and analyzed by ABC News.
The latest attack saw drones downed over 11 Russian regions plus annexed Crimea, the ministry said on Thursday.
Temporary flight restrictions were introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, Kaluga Grabtsevo Airport to the southwest of the capital and Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, according to Telegram posts by Artem Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russia’s federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that at least three drones were shot down on approach to the city. “Emergency services specialists are working at the site of the wreckage,” he wrote.
In the southwestern Voronezh region, a drone crashed into a residential building and injured three people, according to a statement published by local Gov. Alexander Gusev on Telegram.
In the western Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were killed and 17 injured by drone attacks from Wednesday afternoon through into Thursday morning.
Another person was injured by a drone in the Smolensk region, which sits to the west of Moscow and borders Belarus, Gov. Vasily Anokhin said.
In the Kaluga region to Moscow’s southwest, a drone hit a two-story house and a 14-year-old girl was injured by glass fragments, local Gov. Vladislav Shapsha said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 64 drones into the country overnight, of which 41 were shot down or neutralized in flight. The air force said 23 drones impacted in five locations.
As of Thursday, the death toll from a Russian airstrike on the Donetsk city of Dobropillia rose to four, according to local Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Another 27 people were injured in the strike, Filashkin said, which targeted a shopping center in the eastern city.
July has marked an uptick in drone attacks launched by both Russia and Ukraine amid stalled U.S.-led efforts to secure a ceasefire deal to end Russia’s 3-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbor. On Monday, President Donald Trump set Moscow a 50-day ultimatum to agree to a ceasefire, threatening sanctions if it failed to do so.
In June, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported downing a total of 2,368 Ukrainian drones, with an average of almost 79 drones per day across the month.
Thus far in July, the Defense Ministry said it has downed 1,516 Ukrainian drones, with a daily average of 89 drones.
The scale of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine have been increasing since May, according to figures published by the Ukrainian air force and analyzed by ABC News.
In May, Russia launched a total of 3,835 drones and 117 missiles, for an average of around 124 drones and nearly four missiles each day.
June saw 5,438 drones and 239 missiles fired into Ukraine, with a daily average of 181 drones and nearly eight missiles.
Already in the first half of July, Ukraine has reported facing 4,067 drones and 89 missiles, for a daily average of 239 drones and more than five missiles.
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