Ukraine war: Massive Ukrainian drone attack hits 9 Russian regions including Moscow

Ukraine‘s energy ministry has said that Russian forces had attacked energy infrastructure in eight Ukrainian regions in the previous 24 hours.

The ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the attacks had disrupted high-voltage lines and power substations in several regions.

Representatives of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which make up the BRICS alliance, will discuss initiatives on Ukraine at a security-focused meeting starting on Tuesday, the Ria news agency cited Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu as saying.

The meeting is taking place in Russia on 10 – 12 September, he said.

Russia has claimed it will work with international organisations after alleging that Ukraine struck Moscow and western Russia in one of its biggest ever drone attacks.

State news agency Ria cited foreign ministry Maria Zakharova as saying they would open up to international organisations.

Previously, Russia has refused international help following strikes and a Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Kursk.

Ukraine struck Moscow and western Russia in one of its biggest ever drone attacks, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing the closure of major airports in the capital, Russian officials said.

Social media videos showed flames bursting out of windows of a multi-storey residential building, saying that dozens of flats were damaged in the Ramenskoye district.

“I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire,” Alexander Li, a resident of the district told Reuters. “The window got blown out by the shockwave.”

The Ramenskoye district, some 50km (31 miles) southeast from the Kremlin, has a population of around quarter a million of people, according to official data.

The bear and the dragon can never be friends. That is a lesson Xi Jinping heard at a young age. And it explains why the Chinese leader’s “no limits” partnership with Vladimir Putin may turn into a limitless liability – for the Kremlin.

While researching a new biography of Xi, I came across a startling declassified US document. It reveals that the man who was Xi’s mentor in his first job, at the heart of China’s military, was fiercely anti-Russian. Never trust Moscow, he told his staff.

Today, it all looks fine. The two autocrats have boasted of their alliance for more than two years now. It’s clear that Putin gave his “friend” a tip that he was about to invade Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, Xi has stood alongside him, talking peace but sending Russia weapons technology in exchange for oil and gas.

Read the full article by Michael Sheridan, longtime foreign correspondent and diplomatic editor of The Independent:

Moscow’s Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Vnukovo airports resumed normal operations after flights were suspended this morning amid Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram.

Hours earlier, Ukraine launched swarms of attack drones over the world’s biggest nuclear power, striking its capital Moscow and several western regions. Russia said it destroyed at least 20 over the Moscow region, which has a population of over 21 million, and 124 more over eight other regions.

A major road leading to the capital was partially closed.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 38 out of 46 Russia-launched drones during an overnight attack in a statement via Telegram. The air force said Russia also used two missiles in its attack.

Since 6 August, when Ukraine began its cross-border attack, Russian forces have advanced several miles towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region.

If Russia eventually seizes it, it will be the largest population centre it has taken since Bakhmut last May, after months of heavy urban warfare.

Nevertheless, the loss of Pokrovsk could have an even costlier effect.

The city, a logistical hub for the country’s military, sits at the junction of two major roads through the region. Its capture is seen as key to the Russian military prosecuting Vladimir Putin’s objective of taking the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, known as Donbas.

Russia’s military appears to have thrown resources at the effort, possibly at the expense of defending its own civilians in Kursk. As one analyst put it, Putin’s “eye of Sauron”, a reference to Lord of the Rings, has been trained on Donetsk, and particularly Pokrovsk, even as his own country is being invaded.

Our foreign affairs reporter Tom Watling has more in this report: