Mayor Sobyanin Says Ukraine Launched Hundreds of Drones at Moscow

JAKARTA - Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Tuesday said Ukraine launched more than 400 drones towards the Russian capital ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where the Russia-Ukraine war is expected to be discussed.

"From the afternoon until 06.00 (03.00 GMT), more than 430 drones flew towards the Moscow region," wrote Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on the state-backed MAX platform, Al Arabiya reported from AFP (7/7).

"Most of them were neutralized by air defense forces at a long distance. 36 enemy UAVs were destroyed while approaching Moscow," he said.

Meanwhile, the acting governor of the Belgorod region, Aleksandr Shuvaev, said several Ukrainian missile attacks had targeted the city of Belgorod in the southwest and surrounding districts.

"In the village of Belovskoye, Belgorod district, a civilian, unfortunately, was killed as a result of the first missile strike," Shuvaev said on MAX.

The attack underscored Kyiv's use of long-range drones in a war that has lasted more than four years, with Russia's border regions targeted and Moscow facing a surge in drone attacks.

This comes after a Russian attack killed 30 people in Ukraine on Monday, a day before a crucial two-day NATO summit.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged allies to take "decisive decisions" at the summit in Ankara, just hours after the deadly attack.

"It is very important that the world - especially the United States and our European partners - come out of the NATO summit in Ankara with a firm decision to support our air defense," President Zelensky said on Facebook.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up long-range attacks in recent months, with both sides regularly reporting drone strikes and missile launches targeting areas far from the front line.