Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv launches drone strike on Moscow and surrounding regions, Russia says

Drone flying towards Russian capital destroyed, Moscow mayor says; Zelenskiy presses US to allow deeper strikes into Russia. What we know on day 921

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Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack targeting Moscow and several other Russian regions on Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Russian officials said. A drone headed towards Moscow was destroyed in the region surrounding the Russian capital, said Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. At least 12 drones were destroyed over the border region of Bryansk in Russia’s south-west, said the region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz. Two were downed over the Kursk region, said Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of the region, which has been partially invaded by Ukraine. There were no injuries or damage according to preliminary information, the officials said. Their claims could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy is adding pressure on the US to let Kyiv strike military targets deep inside Russian territory after his representatives met with senior US officials in Washington on Saturday. The Ukrainian president said guided aerial bombs killed six people and injured 97 in Kharkiv on Friday, with more attacks on Saturday. He said these could be averted only “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror”. Zelenskiy reiterated that clearing the Ukrainian sky of Russian guided aerial bombs would be “a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace”. “We need both the permissions for long-range capabilities and your long-range shells and missiles,” Zelenskiy said. Washington has provided Ukraine with more than $50bn worth of military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and defensive cross-border operations.

A Russian guided bomb attack on Saturday killed two women and injured 10 more including children in a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the governor said. Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces hit the village of Cherkaska Lozova with guided bombs, damaging a residential building.

Five men were killed in Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region when Russia shelled the city on Saturday morning, said the chief of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin.

A day of mourning was declared in Kharkiv after seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed in a Russian strike. The Kharkiv mayor, Ihor Terekhov, and Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered their condolences. “My condolences to all those who lost their relatives and loved ones. Mourning has been announced in Kharkiv today,” Terekhov said. Zelenskiy promised that “Russia will be held accountable for all its evil deeds”.

Russian forces gained control of the Kirove settlement, known in Ukraine as Verezamske, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the defence ministry in Moscow said. Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia says it has annexed even though it does not fully control all of them, in a territorial claim that Ukraine and all but a few countries worldwide have rejected as illegal, and that Ukraine has vowed to reverse by force. Separately, the Russian defence ministry said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in Kursk region including towards Korenevo and Malaya Loknya.

Russia’s foreign ministry said an attack killed five people and injured 46 others in Belgorod on Friday. The Local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said 37 people were taken to hospital, seven of them children. In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry called on “all responsible governments and relevant international structures to strongly condemn this brutal terrorist attack”. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.

Ukraine said on Saturday that its air defences shot down 24 of 52 drones launched by Russia. Twenty-five fell on their own, with three flying towards Russia and Belarus. There were no reports of any injuries or major damage.

The US has decided against a proposal to deploy American contractors to Ukraine to maintain western military equipment, including F-16 fighter jets.

Discontent towards Vladimir Putin is growing amid Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk region. Since launching the offensive on 6 August, Kyiv claims to have captured dozens of settlements and more than 1,200 square kilometres of territory.

Nato could “overwhelm” Russia which is no longer the power it was during the Soviet Union, Lithuania’s foreign minister has said. Gabrielius Landsbergis said Russia’s invasion came as no surprise to people in Baltics though “the ferocity of it” was shocking.

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