Published: · Region: Eastern Europe · Category: conflict

Moscow’s Largest Drone Barrage in Two Years Exposes Russian Air-Defense Strain and Home-Front Vulnerability

Hundreds of Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and its region overnight in what Russian officials called the biggest attack on the capital in two years, forcing airport closures and hitting civilian infrastructure. For residents, it meant fires, power cuts and a reminder that the war no longer stops at the front line — for the Kremlin, a test of whether its vaunted defensive rings can keep the political heartland out of the blast radius.

Russia’s political and economic center woke up on 18 August to the clearest sign yet that distance from the front no longer guarantees safety. Moscow and its surrounding region faced what Russian authorities described as the largest drone attack on the capital in two years, triggering fires, power outages and disruptions at all four major airports. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that around 627 unmanned aerial vehicles were detected heading toward the capital from the evening of 17 August into the morning of 18 August, with roughly 180 of them shot down over the Moscow region. Russian officials reported that air defenses and mobile fire groups intercepted the bulk of…

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