Live: Russia downs 337 Ukrainian drones in 'massive' overnight attack, defense ministry says
Issued on: 11/03/2025 - 07:18Modified: 11/03/2025 - 10:05
Russian air defences on Tuesday repelled the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow in three years of war, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, while Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 337 Ukrainian drones across the country. The attack came as a Ukrainian delegation meets with US diplomats in Saudi Arabia. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.
The US and Ukrainian delegations have begun their meeting in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, says Ukraine's foreign ministry.
The Ukrainian drone attack launched on the Moscow region overnight should encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept an aerial ceasefire proposed by Kyiv, said a senior Ukrainian security official.
"The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region," said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation, adding: "This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air."
The Kremlin has warned Russians against viewing recent actions towards Ukraine by the Trump administration through "rose-tinted glasses".
Speaking at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned against people getting excited about the prospect of Elon Musk cutting off the Ukrainian military from his Starlink communications system or about President Donald Trump's decision last week to suspend military aid to Kyiv.
"Don't rush to put on rose-tinted glasses," Peskov told the audience. "We always need to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. And we must always be ready to defend our interests."
A Ukrainian delegation set to meet with US diplomats in Saudi Arabia about ending the war with Russia will propose a partial ceasefire as well as the release of prisoners.
Contacts between Russia and the US are now quite intensive, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
Zakharova was commenting on media reports that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to visit Moscow this week to meet President Vladimir Putin.
On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that Witkoff would be going to Moscow for talks with Putin but had no further details.
Witkoff met Putin in Moscow last month and brought back American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who had been sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison after being detained for holding medically prescribed marijuana.
Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport has resumed flights after a suspension caused by a major Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow, according to aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia.
Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said earlier Russian air defences have repelled the largest Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital.
Military chiefs from 30 European and NATO countries willing to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine after any negotiated truce with Russia are to meet in Paris on Tuesday.
The Russian defence ministry said air defenses overnight shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions in what appears to be the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia in three years.
The attack came as a Ukrainian delegation was set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the three-year war with Russia.
The most drones — 126 — were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region.
Other regions listed included Belgorod, Bryansk and Voronezh on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia, such as Kaluga, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol and Ryazan.
Ukraine is set to present the US with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under President Donald Trump has demanded concessions to end the three-year war.
The talks in Saudi Arabia come as Russia has ramped up attacks against Ukraine and Kyiv has hit back, including with an overnight attack on Moscow involving dozens of drones, the city's mayor said Tuesday.
The meeting will be the most senior since a disastrous White House visit last month when Trump berated Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for purported ingratitude.
A total of 69 Ukrainian drones targeting the Russian capital were shot down in a massive attack on Tuesday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
The attack, the biggest targeting Moscow in months, came as a Ukrainian delegation was set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the three-year war with Russia.
At least 11 of the drones were shot down in the Ramensky and Domodedovo districts of the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, Sobyanin said on the messaging app Telegram. He didn't specify where the other drones were shot down, noting only that they were “flying towards Moscow."
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, said that one person was killed and three more wounded as a result of the drone attack. The attack damaged seven apartments in a residential building in the Ramensky district, he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
© 2025 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. Audience ratings certified by ACPM. ACPM
The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.
