MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Tuesday 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.

A view shows a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Tuesday 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.

A law enforcement officer stands guard near a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

Ukraine launched swarms of attack drones over the world’s biggest nuclear power. 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 view shows a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for air traffic following the attacks, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said. A major road leading to the capital was partially closed.

The drone attacks damaged at least two high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, Moscow’s governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

A 46-year-old woman died and three people were injured in Ramenskoye, Vorobyov said. He added that 43 people were evacuated to temporary accommodation centres.

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 50 kms (31 miles) southeast from the Kremlin, has a population of around quarter a million of people, according to official data.

More than 70 drones were also downed over Russia’s Bryansk region and tens more over other regions, Russia’s defence ministry said. There was no damage or casualties reported there.

As Russia advances in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has been trying to take the war to Russia with a bold attack on Russia’s western Kursk region on Aug. 6 and increasingly large drone attacks deep into Russian territory.

Russia says the attacks are akin to “terrorism” as they target civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine says it has a right to strike deep into Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, though Kyiv’s Western backers have repeatedly said they do not want the war to escalate into a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about Tuesday’s attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians yet civilians have died in attacks from both sides.

Ukraine’s domestic drone industry has been growing rapidly and Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure. Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter.

Tuesday’s attack follows a deluge of drones Ukraine launched in early September targeting chiefly Russia’s energy and power facilities.

Authorities of the Tula region, which neighbours the Moscow region to its north, told Russian state news agency that a drone wreckage fell onto a fuel and energy facility, but that “technological process” of the facility was not affected.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)