Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 613 drones flew toward the Moscow region between 20:30 and 7:00. Most were neutralized at long range and another 231 were shot down on approach to the capital, he said. Sobyanin gave no casualty or damage figures for Moscow. Airports in the capital suspended operations.
The Defense Ministry reported the destruction of 1,214 Ukrainian drones over 19 regions of Russia overnight. The agency also cited the number of downed drones, calling the attack the largest by claimed number of targets over the entire period of hostilities.
In Sterlitamak, the Bashkir Soda Company caught fire after the raid. Mayor Emil Shaimardanov confirmed the blaze at the plant, a report by the Astra Telegram channel noted by the agency said. Astra's geospatial analysis showed smoke recorded in the area of the plant. Ukrainian monitoring channels also published photos said to show a fire on the territory of the Marinovka military airfield in the Volgograd region.
In the Kursk region, five people were injured in drone attacks and there was damage, according to Governor Alexander Khinshtein. Reports of an air alert came from the Perm region.
The attack came several hours after Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president, answered a question about the date of announced trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. He said it would depend on the situation on the battlefield and in general, adding that the previous round, supposedly agreed, had been disrupted by the Ukrainians themselves.
Kremlin-linked political analyst Sergei Markov commented on the raid by saying that Zelensky was striking Moscow at a record level while the Russia-Africa international forum was being held there. The last time Sobyanin reported a larger air attack on the capital was the previous Thursday, when he said 630 drones were shot down. Before the final day of voting in the State Duma elections, Sobyanin reported the destruction of 450 UAVs on approach to Moscow, while the Defense Ministry reported 1,110 downed drones. At the same time, Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels on Thursday morning carried no confirmation of drones falling or being destroyed in Moscow and the Moscow region, the agency notes.