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Moscow’s mayor says around 180 drones heading for the Russian capital alone have been downed so far
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Russia faced one of the biggest aerial assaults of the war so far from Ukraine overnight, saying its air defences downed as many as 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions.
Moscow has ordered the suspension of flights at all its major airports, while traffic was halted on Moscow’s ring road near an oil refinery after multiple drone strikes.
Photos and videos shared online purported to show massive explosions at the refinery, including one that blew an oil container lid hundreds of feet into the air.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobhyanin said around 180 drones heading for the capital alone had been downed.
The attacks come after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he held an “important” final phone call after the G7 with US president Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron.
“This was an important coordinating conversation which could change a great deal,” Zelensky said.
Hours earlier, Trump said that Vladimir Putin needs the war in Ukraine to end as Moscow is losing more troops than Kyiv.
Flights at all major Moscow airports have been temporarily suspended for safety reasons after a Ukrainian drone attack, Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said this morning.
At least 180 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over Moscow, officials said.
Russia faced one of the biggest aerial assaults of the war so far from Ukraine overnight, saying its air defences downed as many as 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobhyanin said around 180 drones heading for the capital alone had been downed.
Traffic was halted on Moscow’s ring road near an oil refinery after multiple drone strikes, RIA reported, citing the interior ministry.
Visuals of the attack were shared online purporting to show massive explosions, including one that blew an oil container lid hundreds of feet into the air.
Several drones are also seen flying in the air and targeting the refinery’s infrastructure.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will join a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an alliance that provides military aid for Kyiv, at Nato headquarters in Brussels today, secretary general Mark Rutte said.
The meeting comes after Zelensky also attended a gathering of G7 leaders in France, which ended with a joint statement of support for Kyiv and a vow to increase pressure on Russia.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investigating after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a British yacht that came near it in the English Channel.
The Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian frigate, fired warning shots after making attempts to contact the yacht, the MoD claimed, in order to prevent a potential collision. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its sailors were acting “in strict accordance” with international shipping regulations.
While this is being viewed as an isolated incident, it came days after tensions between the UK and Russia spiked when Britain seized a sanctioned vessel transiting through the Channel.
In Russia’s Belgorod border region, local officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed one man in his car.
On Wednesday, Moscow had accused Ukraine of attacking a bus carrying Belarusian schoolchildren, an accusation Kyiv said was “false”.
In the southern Russian region of Rostov, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one, injured two and caused a fire at two commercial facilities, local officials said.
Emmanuel Macron has said that president Donald Trump “took notice” of the fact that Russia was not seeking peace.
Speaking at a press conference at the G7 summit, the French president said Washington acknowledged that Moscow was not looking to end its war in Ukraine.
He said the G7 had “showed a real change in the approach from the US on Ukraine”.
Trump had earlier suggested that the US could impose sanctions on Russia if it did not take steps to end the war.
Kyiv has come under attack from Russian missiles in the early hours today, Kyiv authorities said, as they urged residents to take shelter.
A Reuters witness heard explosions in Kyiv and authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack.
Air strike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine’s territory.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air raid alert is over!” Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post early on Thursday.
The attack came just hours after Trump said Russia was losing more soldiers than Ukraine, after he suggested that both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Zelensky seemed open to doing something about the war.
Thick plumes of smoke with flames were seen in the early hours of Thursday in southeastern Kapotnya district in the Russian capital of Moscow, a Reuters witness said.
It was not immediately clear what the source of the fire was. The Moscow oil refinery is located in the area. Over three dozen drones heading for Moscow were downed overnight, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
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