Ukraine Launches 620 Drones at Moscow Region in Major Attack, Causing Outages
Major Drone Assault and Its Impact on Moscow and Crimea
Scale and Details of the Attack
Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine launched 620 drones at Moscow and surrounding areas into the early hours of Tuesday morning, the capital's mayor said, in one of Kyiv's biggest air assaults on the region, while Russian-annexed Crimea said it suffered power outages after strikes.
Russian Response and Immediate Aftermath
Russian forces downed 180 of the drones over the Moscow region and emergency services were working at crash sites, mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, without going into detail on any casualties or damage.
Damage to Infrastructure and Civilian Impact
Drones hit a warehouse of Russian e-commerce company Wildberries and other facilities near Moscow, regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said separately. At least three people, including a 10-year-old girl, were injured in the region, he added.
Wildberries, a frequent target of Kyiv's attacks following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said drone debris hit a wall at the warehouse, causing minor damage.
Wider Regional Effects
Several other Russian-controlled regions, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, also reported heavy attacks from Ukraine.
Power Outages in Crimea
Krymenergo, the Crimean peninsula's largest power supplier, said southern districts came under Ukrainian drone attacks overnight.
It said several settlements have been cut off from power supplies as a result of the attacks, and that the situation with power deliveries has remained challenging in north-western, eastern and southern parts of the region.
Reporting Credits
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Stephen Coates and Andrew Heavens)
