Russian officials said on Sunday (September 20) that the Russian military shot down over a thousand Ukrainian drones at night, with hundreds flying towards Moscow. This round of attacks occurred as Russia was holding a three-day parliamentary election, with voting scheduled for Sunday.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced on the social media platform Telegram on Sunday morning that Russian forces had shot down a total of 450 drones heading towards the Russian capital from Saturday night to Sunday morning. He described it as the “largest-scale drone attack in Moscow’s history.”
Sobyanin noted that the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building had been damaged in the attacks.
Andrei Vorobyov, the Governor of Moscow Oblast, stated that the attacks resulted in two fatalities and 20 injuries in the entire Moscow Oblast, including a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman among the deceased.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Sunday that Russian forces had shot down a total of 1110 Ukrainian drones overnight, spanning across various regions of Russia, the Black Sea, and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
At the time of the Ukrainian attack, Russia was conducting its parliamentary elections, with Mayor Sobyanin acknowledging that the attack was clearly planned to disrupt the ongoing elections.
Ukrainian President Zelensky wrote on social media that Kyiv used a series of missiles and drones in the attack to target Russia’s oil and logistics facilities, aiming to put economic pressure on Russia as “this supplies the war machine with billions of dollars.”
Zelensky stated that Ukraine, while launching the attack, was also continuing to resist Russia’s assaults. He mentioned that on Saturday, Russian drones attacked a monastery in Kherson, Ukraine, resulting in the death of a clergyman and injuries to four others.
Tymur Tkachenko, the Director of the Kyiv City Military Administration, reported that on Saturday night, Russia’s attacks also caused the deaths of two children and their mother in Kyiv. He later added that another child injured in the same attack died in the hospital on Sunday.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 138 drones towards the country at night, with 101 drones intercepted or otherwise prevented.
(Reference from the Associated Press report)