Ukraine fires largest drone barrage at Russia

Ukrainian drones smashed into high-rise apartment blocks on the outskirts of Moscow in the early hours of Tuesday, with both sides saying it was the largest attack on the Russian capital of the three-year conflict.

The Kremlin condemned the attack, which comes just hours before top US and Ukrainian officials sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia and after three years of Russian aerial barrages on Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv said the attack should push Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept its call for a halt to long-range aerial strikes, a proposal Moscow has previously ruled out.

Ukrainian and US diplomats were set to meet for talks on ending the conflict, with Kyiv saying it would try to get Washington - which has resumed talks with Moscow under President Donald Trump - on board with the idea.

A view shows a damaged apartment building in a residential complex following a drone attack in the village of Sapronovo in the Moscow region on March 11. Photo / AFP

The attack killed at least two people and wounded several more, Russian officials said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Kyiv targeting “residential houses”, claiming its forces only hit military infrastructure, despite near daily attacks on Ukraine’s civilian areas and thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed by its offensive.

Moscow’s army said it intercepted 337 Ukrainian drones across the country in what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the “most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow”.

At the site of one attack, AFP journalists saw holes on the upper floors of an apartment block and broken glass and debris strewn across the asphalt.

Both sides say it was the largest attack on the Russian capital of the three-year conflict. Photo / AFP

‘All the neighbours jumped’

“We were sleeping, there was an explosion, the children screamed,” Yevgenia Bakatuyeva, a 38-year-old who lives in one of the apartment blocks that was hit, told AFP.

“I opened my door, and all the neighbours jumped out. Somebody was in blood,” she added.

Artyom, a 34-year-old car sales manager also living in the building, said he had “only seen such things on TV” and that it was “scary when in real life.”

Ukraine has previously targeted Moscow, but deadly strikes so far away from the front lines are rare.

No air raid alert or siren was announced in the capital amid the attack.

More than 90 drones were intercepted over the Moscow Region, which surrounds the heavily defended capital, and another 126 were downed over the western Kursk region, where Russia’s ground forces are pushing back a Ukrainian cross-border incursion.

Russia’s defence ministry claims it shot down 337 UAVs across the country. Photo / AFP

Truce in the sky

Russian aviation officials temporarily closed the four main airports serving Moscow amid the attack.

Two people were killed in the attacks - a 50-year-old man and a 38-year-old security guard - Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said in a post on Telegram.

The health ministry said six people were in hospital, including a child and one person in an extremely serious condition, Russian state news agencies reported.

Russia’s investigative committee called it a “terrorist attack” and opened a criminal investigation.

In the Vladimir region, some 200km east of Moscow, a village of around 800 people was evacuated after two drones there were shot down, local authorities said.

Ukraine also called it the “largest drone attack in history” saying it “lasted all night and through the morning”.

‘Signal to Putin’

“This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air,” said Andriy Kovalenko, head of the National Security Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

Ukraine is set to present the United States with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under Trump has demanded concessions to end the three-year conflict.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will take part in the Saudi talks, indicated the idea had promise.

Russia has previously ruled out partial ceasefires.

The talks will be the most senior since a disastrous White House meeting last month, when Trump berated Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for purported ingratitude.

Since Trump’s dressing down of Zelenskyy, Washington has suspended military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery in a bid to force it to the negotiating table.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it had taken OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu - in Moscow on Tuesday - to the site of one of the attacks.

Russia’s military also launched a ballistic missile and 126 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions overnight as air defence downed a wave of drones.

A bomb attack on the eastern town of Kostiantynivka wounded four people, Ukrainian officials said.