Swarms of Ukraine drones bombing Moscow region as US accuses Iran of supplying missiles to Russia

Ukraine has targeted the Russian capital in its biggest drone attack so far, killing at least one and wrecking dozens of homes in the Moscow region and forcing about 50 flights to be diverted from airports around the area.

The Ukrainian attacks came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Iran of providing Russia with ballistic missiles.

Russia said on Tuesday it had destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region, which has a population of more than 21 million, and 124 more over eight other regions.

At least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said.

Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the drone attack was another reminder of the real nature of Ukraine’s political leadership, which he said was made up of Russia’s enemies.

“There is no way that nighttime strikes on residential neighbourhoods can be associated with military action,” Peskov said.

“The Kyiv regime continues to demonstrate its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue the special military operation to protect ourselves from such actions,” he said, using the expression Russia uses to describe its war in Ukraine.

Ukraine said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, had attacked it overnight with 46 drones, of which 38 were destroyed.

The drone attacks on Russia damaged high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, residents told Reuters.

A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were wounded in Ramenskoye, Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

Residents said they awoke to blasts and fire.

“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.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the grinding rigours of the war, has called Ukrainian drone attacks that target civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants “terrorism” and has vowed a response.

Ukraine says it has a right to strike back deep into Russia although Ukraine’s allies have said they do not want a confrontation between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance.

Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and will likely use them in Ukraine within weeks, Blinken said on Tuesday.

At a news conference in London ahead of a visit to Kyiv he and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy will make, Blinken said the US had privately warned Iran that providing ballistic missiles to Russia would be “a dramatic escalation” and said new sanctions would be imposed later on Tuesday.

“Russia has now received shipments with these ballistic missiles, and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine, against Ukraine,” Blinken said, citing intelligence that he said has been shared with US allies and partners around the world.

Blinken said Iran has trained dozens of Russian military personnel to use its Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 120km.

A senior Iranian official on Monday denied reports Iran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles, describing them as “psychological warfare”.

“The publication of false and misleading reports about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is simply an ugly propaganda to conceal the large illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in Gaza,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a post on X.

While describing sanctions against Iran over the missile deliveries as a “positive step,” Ukrainian top presidential official Andriy Yermak said this was not enough.

“We also need authorisation to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory, the provision of longer-range missiles, and the enhancement of our air defence systems,” Yermak said on X.

Peskov declined to confirm the reports but told reporters Russia was co-operating with Iran including on “the most sensitive” areas.

Russia has nearly completed the required procedures to sign a new bilateral treaty with Iran soon, state news agency TASS quoted top security official Sergei Shoigu as saying on Tuesday.

“We look forward to the imminent conclusion of a new basic interstate treaty. We are completing the internal procedures necessary for the preparation of documents for signing by the presidents,” Shoigu said.