Ukraine launched drone attacks on Moscow and the border region of Belgorod, causing at least four Russian airports to temporarily close Saturday.
The attacks came one day after Ukraine carried out an air raid on a military base in Crimea.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said an air defense system shot down a drone over the Istra district, about 30 miles west of the Kremlin, early Saturday.
Russia claimed it intercepted to two more drones later Saturday over the Belgorod region, as Ukraine escalates its cross-border attacks.
Six people were wounded by shelling in a border town as well, Moscow said.
The attacks temporarily halted flights at three major airports that serve the capital, as well as one near Belgorod.
The attempted attacks followed one of Ukraine’s largest coordinated air raids since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency confirmed drones hit a Russian military base in Crimea Friday, where residents reported deaths and explosions.
Russia, however, maintained its air defense systems had downed all 42 drones attacking Crimea before they struck their targets.
Meanwhile, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Ukraine’s counteroffensive has broken through Russia’s front line of defense and liberated a portion of Russian-occupied territory.
Milley on Friday called the counteroffensive’s progress “bloody, long, and slow,” in an interview with Al-Mamlaka.
“Specifically on the axis of advance that they’re attacking on right now, they’ve attacked through the first main defensive belt,” Milley said. “This defensive line, which the Russians spent many months preparing, it’s got minefields, it’s got dragon’s teeth, it’s got tank ditches. It’s a very, very complex set of defensive preparations that the Ukrainians are fighting through.”
The counteroffensive has put pressure on Russian forces in Bakhmut — the site of some of the war’s most intense fighting — and southern Ukraine, where it has gradually been gaining ground, according to an intelligence update posted by the U.K. Ministry of Defense Saturday.
Russia has continued to launch small-scale attacks on the northeast, where they have also been able to make some advances, according to the agency.
Two people were killed Saturday when Russian shelling hit a cafe in the village of Podoly in the eastern region of Kharkiv.
With Post Wires.