Air attack kills two in Kyiv while Russia accuses Ukraine of drone assault

Russian officials have accused Ukraine of launching what appears to be the biggest night-time drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago.

The Kremlin’s forces also hit Kyiv during the night with what Ukrainian officials called a “massive, combined attack” that killed two people.

Drones struck an airport in western Russia’s Pskov region near the border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 transport aircraft that can carry heavy machinery, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

The airport strike, which was first reported minutes before midnight local time, started a massive fire, the regional governor and local media reported.

Unconfirmed media reports said up to 20 drones may have targeted the airport.

More drones were shot down over the Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga regions, as well as the region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the defence ministry.

Three main Moscow region airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo – temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

Aerial attacks on Russian soil have escalated in recent months as Ukraine pursues a counter-offensive to drive the invading forces out of its territory.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian military of also launching drones toward Moscow.

Russia, meanwhile, used drones and missiles in its biggest bombardment of Ukraine’s capital in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Russia launched Shahed exploding drones at the city from various directions and then followed with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft, Mr Popko said.

It was unclear how many were launched, but Mr Popko called the attack the biggest on the capital since the spring.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze.

Mr Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained.

Pskov was the only region reporting substantial damage. In Kaluga, one drone was brought down and another hit an empty oil reservoir, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, governor Vladislav Shapsha reported. Windows in residences were shattered, Mr Shapsha said.

In the Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said six drones were downed overnight. One of them damaged an administrative building, he said, prompting a brief fire. Two were targeting a television tower, but were brought down. Russian media cited local residents as saying they heard a loud explosion.

Two drones were downed over the Oryol region, governor Andrei Klychkov said. Two more were downed over the Ryazan region and one over the Moscow region, officials said.

Also on Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014,
reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbour of the port city of Sevastopol.

Fuel depots and airfields have been hit in drone attacks on Crimea or Russian-held regions that Moscow officials have blamed on Kyiv.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually refuse to take responsibility for any attacks on Russian soil.

Explosions in Ukraine were also reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraine’s air defences destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones targeting the capital and multiple regions across the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in its daily Telegram update on Wednesday.

It said 43 weapons were downed in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south of the country. The statement did not say what happened to the other drone.