Ukraine sent drones toward Moscow for the third consecutive night and targeted several other Russian regions, disrupting air traffic throughout the country and threatening an industrial plant in Russia’s south, Russian authorities said on Wednesday.
Russian air defense units destroyed a total of 100 Ukrainian drones overnight, including six in the Moscow region and 13 over bordering regions, the Russian defense ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv has kept up long-range drone strikes on Moscow and other Russian regions in recent months, saying the aim is to hit military and industrial assets, sap Russia’s war economy and show Russians the conflict is no longer distant.
The attacks on Moscow came in several waves, the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram.
Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said three of Moscow’s four airports, and several others throughout the country, were briefly closed for safety reasons.
Ukraine also launched several drones targeting the Budyonnovsk industrial zone in Russia’s Stavropol region, the region’s governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, said on Telegram. The Russian defense ministry said its units downed two drones over the region, located in the country’s south.
The attack caused no “significant” damage, and there were no casualties, Vladimirov said on the Telegram messaging app.
According to Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, Kyiv attacked the Stavrolen chemical plant in the Budyonnovsk zone, a part of Russia’s Lukoil group.
According to Russian and Ukrainian media, Stavrolen is one of Russia’s main producers of polyethylene and polypropylene.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports of the attack on Stavrolen. Stavropol’s governor did not disclose what was attacked in Budyonnovsk.
Russia typically gives limited details about the effects of Ukrainian strikes on its territory unless civilians or civilian infrastructure are hit.
Over the previous two nights, Russia’s units destroyed 35 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region, the Russian defense ministry said. There was no damage reported.
Ukraine targets Moscow with drones for third straight night, Russia says
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Ukraine targets Moscow with drones for third straight night, Russia says
- Kyiv has kept up long-range drone strikes on Moscow and other Russian regions in recent months, saying the aim is to hit military and industrial assets, sap Russia’s war economy and show Russians the conflict is no longer distant
Trump ‘very disappointed’ with UK’s Starmer for blocking use of air bases, Telegraph says
- UK PM then said bases could be used in “defensive” operations
- Trump says it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind
LONDON: Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the Diego Garcia air base to carry out strikes on Iran, the Daily Telegraph quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had reportedly initially denied the US permission to conduct air strikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a request for their use in any “defensive” strikes the US wanted to make against Iranian targets.
In an interview published on Monday Trump told the British newspaper that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
Trump said Starmer should have approved from the get-go the American use of Diego Garcia — a strategically important US-UK air base in the Indian Ocean — saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country.”
Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Since attacks on Iran started on Saturday, Iran has been targeting Gulf countries with missiles, and on Sunday an Iranian-made drone hit Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing limited damage and no casualties.
Trump said it was “useful” that the US would now be able to launch operations from Diego Garcia, as he also criticized a deal Starmer has made over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia is based.
