AJ
Russia had been hitting the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on successive nights, so it was hardly a surprise that Ukraine would take advantage of the distance-defying Liutyi drones to target the Russian capital on successive nights too.
On the evening of October 26, multiple Russian channels began circulating news that Ukrainian drones were heading towards the capital in their swarms, while reports suggested Putin had fled the Kremlin and was heading to safety.
Soon after, explosions were ringing out around Ramenskoye and Serpukhov due to air defences in operation, according to reports by Mayor Sobyanin, adding that debris had fallen due to the interception of three drones.
By 21:17 Moscow time, Sobyanin was reporting the sixth drone being neutralised and that emergency services were approaching the scenes because of debris.
Just after 1am Moscow time there was a fire reported near Zhukovsky, as Sobyanin reported the 26th drone from Ukraine being destroyed, adding that emergency services were working at the site of fallen debris.
Not long after this, local media began reporting explosions in the Ramenskoye district and Kolomna, and Rosaviatsia reported restrictions at Zhukovsky airport.
On the morning of October 27 the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed to have shot down 40 drones flying over Moscow, and another 34 flying towards Moscow, as well as 47 over Bryansk, 32 over Tula and 42 over Kaluga that were all heading towards the capital.
Throughout the night there were jets scrambled to safety from airports near both Moscow and Engels-2, where most of the Tu95-MS and Tu160 bombers are kept when Russia prepare for largescale attacks on Ukraine, due to the incoming drones.
Astra reported that smoke had been visible in the Kommunarka settlement area of Moscow after the explosions, geolocating the area thanks to eyewitness photos from the night.
An oil depot in the Serpukhov region had caught fire too, but this had been extinguished and the causes hadn’t been released by the emergency services, although the fire was confirmed near JSC Serpukhov Oil Depot on Novoselok Street, according to eyewitnesses.
Media was told by an administrator of the Serpukhov Urban District that an empty fuel tanker had caught fire, but this was quickly extinguished, the cause was still being determined, and no casualties had been reported.
At around 21:30 on October 27, reports began to circulate on Russian media of explosions being heard again around Ramenskoye and Bronnitsy, and Mayor Sobyanin initially tried to put residents at ease by stating that the air defences were working.
Not long after, updates began emerging that drones were flying towards Moscow and were being shot down by the MOD’s air defence forces, while emergency services were working at the site of debris sites.
Videos that began to circulate on social media of fires around the Russian capital were quickly removed, but the damage could have been caused once again by Russian air defences or debris causing damage to their own civilian buildings.
