Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city’s major airports and injuring at least five people.
US President Joe Biden will discuss top domestic and foreign policy priorities with President-elect Donald Trump when the two meet on Wednesday, and lobby the incoming administration not to abandon Ukraine, said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday.
At least two people were injured and buildings were damaged in an overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, said Ukrainian officials on Sunday.
Ukraine attacks Moscow with dozens of drones
Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city’s major airports and injuring at least five people.
Russian air defences destroyed another 50 drones over other regions of western Russia on Sunday, said the defence ministry.
“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using airplane-type drones on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted,” said the ministry.
Russia’s federal air transport agency said the airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky diverted at least 36 flights, but then resumed operations. Five people were injured in the Moscow region, said the defence ministry.
Moscow and its surrounding region, with a population of at least 21 million, is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe, alongside Istanbul.
For its part, Russia launched a record 145 drones overnight, said Ukraine. Kyiv said its air defences downed 62 of those. Ukraine also said it attacked an arsenal in the Bryansk region of Russia, which reported 14 drones had been downed in the region.
Unverified video posted on Russian Telegram channels showed drones buzzing across the skyline.
The 2½-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final act after Moscow’s forces advanced at the fastest pace since the early days of the war and Donald Trump was elected 47th president of the US.
Trump, who takes office in January, said during campaigning that he could bring peace in Ukraine within 24 hours, but has given few details on how he would seek to do this.
Kyiv, itself the target of repeated mass drone strikes from Russian forces, has tried to strike back against its vastly larger eastern neighbour with repeated drone strikes against oil refineries, airfields and even strategic early-warning radar stations.
While the 1,000km front has largely resembled grinding World War One trench and artillery warfare for much of the war, one of the biggest innovations of the conflict has been drone warfare.
Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways and seek new ways to destroy them — from using farmers’ shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.
Russia has developed a series of electronic “umbrellas” over Moscow, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences to shoot down the drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.
Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their own production. Soldiers on both sides have reported a visceral fear of drones — and both sides have used macabre video footage of fatal drone strikes in their propaganda.
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.
Biden to lobby Trump administration not to walk away from Ukraine
US President Joe Biden will discuss top domestic and foreign policy priorities with president-elect Donald Trump when the two meet on Wednesday, and lobby the incoming administration not to abandon Ukraine, said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday.
Republican Trump will take office on 20 January after defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris in the 5 November presidential election. Biden invited Trump to come to the Oval Office on Wednesday, said the White House.
In an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation show, Sullivan said Biden’s top message would be his commitment to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, and he would also talk to Trump about what’s happening in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
“The president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things, where they stand, and talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these issues when he takes office,” said Sullivan.
A key topic is likely to be Ukraine’s war with Russia, which Trump has pledged to end swiftly, although he did not say how.
“President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe,” said Sullivan.
Two injured in Russian air attack on Odesa
At least two people were injured and buildings were damaged in an overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, said Ukrainian officials on Sunday.
“The enemy has once again launched a massive attack on our region,” said the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odesa region on its social media account. “Garages with cars and property were on fire, residential buildings, shops were damaged.”
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the region on the Black Sea coast, said, without providing further detail, that the attack caused some fires.
The scale of the attack was not immediately clear.
Ukraine drone attacks spark fire in Russia’s Bryansk, Kaluga regions
Ukrainian overnight drone attacks set several non-residential buildings on fire in Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions, said regional governors on Sunday.
“Emergency services and firefighters are on the site,” Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian border region of Bryansk, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, without providing further detail.
The defence ministry said its air defence units had destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 17 over Bryansk.
Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region to its northeast, said a non-residential building in the region was on fire as a result of Ukraine’s drone attack.
Ukraine faces increasing challenges in war, says military chief
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advanced and North Korean troops prepared to join the Kremlin’s campaign.
Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors.
Zelensky said in a nightly address that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north.
He decried strikes on civilian targets and urged European countries to provide more air defence systems.
Syrskyi, writing on Facebook, said he told General Christopher Cavoli, who heads the US European Command: “The situation remains challenging and shows signs of escalation.
“The enemy, leveraging its numerical advantage, is continuing offensive actions and is focusing its main efforts on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions.”.
Russian forces, intent on capturing Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have been regularly capturing new villages as they move towards Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s general staff, in a late evening report on Saturday, said 40 armed clashes had occurred around villages near Kurakhove.
Both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers on Friday said Russian forces sought to encircle the city.
The US, Western European countries and Ukraine say that North Korea, which entered a mutual defence pact with Russia in June, has sent troops to its ally.
“We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian forces,” said Syrskyi.
Zelensky has said 11,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, specifically in the southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged a large incursion in August.
Both Zelensky and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said this week that North Korean soldiers had already been involved in combat there.
Putin signs into law mutual defence treaty with North Korea
Putin signed into law a treaty on the country’s strategic partnership with North Korea which includes a mutual defence provision, according to a decree published on Saturday.
The accord, signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June after a summit in Pyongyang, calls on each side to come to the other’s aid in case of an armed attack.
Russia’s upper house ratified the treaty this week, while the lower house endorsed it last month. Putin signed a decree on that ratification that appeared on Saturday on a government website outlining legislative procedures.
The treaty galvanises closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Reports from South Korea and Western countries say North Korea has supplied Russia with weaponry. Ukrainian forensic experts say they have found traces of the weapons at sites of Russian attacks.
Putin orders more efforts to suppress extremism
Putin ordered his interior ministry early on Sunday to increase efforts in suppressing extremism inside the country.
“Today, Russian citizens expect more dedication and new results from you in all key areas of work,” said Putin in a congratulatory message to the interior ministry’s employees on their professional holiday, which is celebrated in Russia on 10 November.
“More work and proactive behaviour are also necessary in suppressing extremism. It threatens our sovereignty, constitutional order and the safety of people in any form and guise.” DM