Russia downs Ukrainian drone outside Moscow: Defense Ministry

Russian forces have neutralized a potential Ukrainian drone attack on its capital city Moscow, according to a statement by the country's Defense Ministry.

The Ministry said on Sunday that the drone, which headed for Moscow, was intercepted by the Russian aircraft forces over the Bogorodsky municipality.

“At 1:00 am Moscow time on November 19 (10:00 pm GMT on November 18), an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on facilities on Russian soil with the use of a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was foiled. Air defense forces on duty destroyed an UAV over the Bogorodskoye municipality outside Moscow," the Ministry said.

Emergency services were working at the crash scene, it added.

Earlier, Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin had reported the downing of a drone in that municipality.

“Tonight, air defense forces foiled a drone attack targeting Moscow in the Bogorodskoye municipality. There were no casualties or damage,” Sobyanin wrote on his Telegram channel, citing preliminary data.

Ukrainian forces have been targeting Russian military, logistics, and infrastructure sites since Russia launched its "special operation" in Ukraine in February 2022.

On November 10, Ukrainian forces launched drone attacks over Moscow and Smolensk oblasts.

Russian airstrikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure had also reportedly led to power cuts in more than 400 towns and villages across Ukraine.

An oil depot in Odessa in the south was also hit in the Russian strikes, leaving more than 1,500 residents without power, Ukrainian reports said, adding that nearly 21,000 people in the Donetsk region had no electricity, and 63 settlements were cut off in the Zaporizhzhia region.

ME