Hundreds Of Ukrainian Drones Target Moscow And Other Russian Territory, Kremlin: Kyiv Regime Shows Its Nature

Ukrainian attack drone. (Wikimedia Commons/men'smen

JAKARTA - The Kremlin views Kyiv's political leadership as showing Kyiv's true safari consisting of Russian enemies, as Ukraine launched a massive drone strike on the capital Moscow.

Russia, said it had destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian drones as they invaded Moscow, which has a population of more than 21 million, as well as 124 other unmanned aircraft in eight other areas.

At least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of the four Moscow airports were closed for more than six hours and nearly 50 flights were diverted.

"It is unlikely that a nightly attack on a residential area could be linked to a military action," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The Kyiv regime continues to show its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue special military operations to protect ourselves from such actions," he said, using an expression Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv are both trying to buy and develop new unmanned aircraft, deploy them in innovative ways, look for new ways to destroy them, from using rifles to advanced electronic exhaust systems.

Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into lethal weapons, while increasing their own production and assembly to attack targets including tanks and energy infrastructure such as oil refineries and airfields.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who seeks to protect Moscow from the harsh war, called the Ukrainian drone strike targeting civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power generation "terrorism" and has promised to provide responses.

Moscow and other major Russian cities have largely been isolated from war.

Russia has attacked Ukraine with thousands of missile and drone in the past two and a half years, killing thousands of civilians, destroying most of the country's energy systems, and damaging commercial and residential properties across the country.

Separately, Kyiv said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, had attacked it earlier with 46 unmanned aircraft, 38 of which were destroyed.

Ukraine says it has the right to retaliate against Russian attacks, although West Kyiv supporters say it does not want a direct confrontation between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance led by the United States.