Fresh Ukrainian Drone Strikes Reported Near Moscow, Flights Restricted at 3 Airports

Russian air defences have destroyed about 30 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) approaching Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Russian media. He said emergency services are working at the site where fragments of the intercepted drones fell.

The Russian news site Izvestia reported that new air defence systems are forcing Ukraine’s armed forces to change their drone routes, and that the systems can influence enemy tactics even before they intercept a target. Air defences also shot down another 10 drones heading for the capital, after a group of 15 had been destroyed.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya, restricted flights at three of the region’s four main airports: Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. The restrictions have been lifted at Zhukovsky, but temporary limits remain at the other two.

The Kyiv Independent reported that residents of the Moscow region heard a series of explosions near Naro-Fominsk, a town about 50 kilometres southwest of the capital.

ZELENSKYY: ‘WE SEE DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS’

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about Kyiv’s relationship with Washington on how to end the war. In an interview with the Sun, he said he shares US President Donald Trump’s goal of ending the conflict but that the two leaders favour different tools.

“President Trump and I are on the same side when we speak about ending Russia’s war, but we see different instruments for achieving that goal,” he said.

He said his background gives Ukraine a clearer reading of the Kremlin. “My philosophy is that Putin is a deeply Soviet person, both in his reality and mentality,” he said.

“We know it because my generation was born in the Soviet Union. When Putin is lying, we feel it.” That is why, he said, “we understand the Russians more clearly than the United States.”

He drew a line between Washington’s view and Ukraine’s. “The United States, considering global security, can discuss different topics with the Russians,” he said. “But we understand the mentality of both Putin and the Russian people, their soldiers and civilians. They fear Putin because they know they can be imprisoned. If they don’t go and kill Ukrainians, Putin will sanction them in his own way.”

IN CHERNIHIV

The Kyiv Post reported on Wednesday that Russian forces struck a municipal veterinary and animal sterilisation centre in Chernihiv with a missile, wounding three women and injuring several animals.

With both sides digging in, there is no sign that the war is coming to a close.

With inputs from ANI