Russian air defenses stopped a drone attack by Ukraine on Moscow that caused one of the city's international airports to be temporarily closed, Officials said on Tuesday. A Western analysis noted that Russia had stopped Kyiv's recent counteroffensive.
The first known assault on the city since an unsuccessful mutiny launched 11 days ago by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was the drone attack, which followed previous similar raids on the Russian capital. The largest, albeit brief, challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades of his rule came when his Wagner troops marched on Moscow.
The Ukrainian government, which typically refrains from commenting on attacks on Russian soil, did not specify whether the drone raid was carried out. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, four of the five drones were shot down by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow, and the fifth was forced to land after being jammed by electronic warfare.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, there were no injuries or damage. The Russian military's claim that it had shot down all of them was impossible to verify, as it had been with previous drone attacks on Moscow.
Authorities were forced to temporarily restrict flights at Moscow's Vnukovo airport and divert them to two other major airports in Moscow as a result of the drone attack. About 15 kilometers southwest of Moscow is Vnukovo. In what appeared to be Kyiv's most profound strikes into Russia in May, two daring drone attacks shook the Russian capital.
In the early stages of a counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces continued to investigate Russian defenses in the south and east of their country. The military is currently concentrating on destroying Russian equipment and personnel, according to Ukraine's Security and Defense Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov, and the fighting has been particularly "fruitful" in recent days.
He provided no evidence, and no one could independently verify it. As they attempt to free the Russian occupiers, the Ukrainians are confronted with obstacles such as minefields, anti-tank ditches, and layered defensive lines that are said to be up to 20 kilometers deep in some locations.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister of Ukraine, stated on Tuesday evening that Russia was intensifying its shelling of Ukraine's northern border in order to maintain Ukrainian forces there. The Kremlin's forces have "refined (their) tactics aimed at slowing Ukrainian armored counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine," according to the UK Defense Ministry on Tuesday.
According to the assessment, "Moscow has placed emphasis on using anti-tank mines to slow the onslaught," leaving the attackers at the mercy of Russian artillery, helicopters, and drones. The assessment stated, "Although Russia has achieved some success with this approach in the early stages of Ukraine's counteroffensive, its forces continue to suffer from key weaknesses, especially overstretched units and a shortage of artillery munitions."
Even if the counteroffensive succeeds, Western analysts believe it will not end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. In the meantime, Russia has continued its barrage of missiles and drones deep behind the front line.
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