Russia says Ukraine fired missile towards Moscow, hit Crimea with drones

Russia said on Friday that Ukraine had fired a missile towards Moscow and attacked the Crimean Peninsula with 42 drones, one of the biggest known coordinated Ukrainian air attacks to date on Russian-held territory.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down a modified S-200 missile over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region. The city of Kaluga is less than 200 km from Moscow.

“The missile was detected and destroyed by air defences over the territory of the Kaluga region,” the defence ministry said.

There were no casualties, Kaluga governor, Vladislav Shapsha, said.

The ministry also said Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, was attacked. Nine drones were destroyed by air defence forces while 33 were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed over Crimea without reaching their targets, it said.

Ukraine says Crimea part of its internationally recognised territory.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on the Telegram messaging app that a number of drones was destroyed over the Khersones promontory, on Sevastopol’s outskirts.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attacks, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Russian airports suspended flights for a few hours.

The attack were the latest in a surge of similar attacks since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia’s military infrastructure helps Kyiv’s counteroffensive.