Three killed in biggest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow region

By Guy Faulconbridge and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, killing at least three employees of a meat warehouse, injuring 17 others and causing a short shutdown at the Russian capital's four airports, Russian officials said.

A total of 343 drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over Moscow region and 126 over the western region of Kursk where Ukrainian forces have been pulling back, as well as near the Kursk nuclear power plant, the defence ministry said.

The dawn attack unfurled ahead of talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on seeking an end of the three-year-war and as Russian forces try to encircle thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday's was the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on the city, which along with the surrounding region has a population of at least 21 million and is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preventative measures had allowed Moscow and other Russian regions to be defended from the attacks which he said had hit residential buildings.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had launched an attack on civilian infrastructure. Ukraine's General Staff said it struck oil facilities in Russia's Moscow and Oryol regions in an overnight drone attack.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the war has showcased the devastating power of relatively cheap drones which have been used by both sides to target cities, troops, oil refineries and airfields.

DRONE WAR

Kyiv has suffered repeated mass strikes from Russia throughout the war and said it was targeted by a ballistic missile and 126 drones on Tuesday. It has tried to hit back against its vastly bigger neighbour with repeated drone raids over the past two years.

Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament's defence committee and a former deputy defence minister, suggested Moscow should retaliate for Tuesday's raid by striking Ukraine with the "Oreshnik" hypersonic missile.

Miratorg, one of Russia's biggest meat producers, said two employees were killed by falling debris. Russian officials said a third man from Miratorg had died from his injuries.

Russia's aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow's airports after the attacks, though they were later reopened. Flights were diverted to other cities.

Though U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to deliver peace in Ukraine, the war is heating up on the battlefield with a major Russian spring offensive in Kursk and a series of Ukrainian drone attacks deep into Russia.

Russia has developed myriad electronic "umbrellas" over Moscow and key installations, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences to shoot down drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.

Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them - from farmers' shotguns to electronic jamming.

Soldiers have reported a visceral fear of drones and both sides have used macabre footage of fatal strikes in their propaganda, with soldiers shown being blown apart in toilets or running from burning vehicles.

Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the war, has called Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants "terrorism" and has vowed a response.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Guy Faulconbridge and Anton Kolodyazhnyy in Moscow; Editing by and Gerry Doyle, Andrew Cawthorne, Aidan Lewis)