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Russian reported more drone attacks early on September 1, including near the capital and a nuclear power plant as Ukraine’s military said its counteroffensive was continuing in the country’s east and south amid the 18-month war with invading Russian forces.
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defense systems had shot down a drone that he claimed was approaching the city. The drone was downed near Lyubertsy, southeast of Moscow, Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
According to the state-run TASS news agency, flights were suspended briefly at Moscow’s three major airports Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo.
There have been repeated disruptions to takeoffs and landings at Moscow airports in recent days because of the risks posed by drones.
Elsewhere, a drone strike was reported in Kurchatov, home to a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region, regional governor Roman Starovoit said.
Emergency services were assessing the damage suffered by an administrative building and a residential one in the attack, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Starovoit did not mention any potential damage to the Kursk nuclear power plant or give details of the targeted buildings.
Earlier, the local governor of the western region of Pskov said Russian air defense had “neutralized an unidentified object” there.
Governor Mikhail Vedernikov posted a video on Telegram showing fire being directed through the air. He said there had been no damage on the ground.
The Pskov region, some 700 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, was the site of a large drone attack earlier this week. On August 30, drones hit an airport there, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports. It was part of a barrage that day which targeted six Russian regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on August 31 that Ukraine had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away, in an apparent reference to the strike on the airport in Pskov.
Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel that the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details.
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that more than 25 combat clashes had taken place across the front line over the past 24 hours.
In its daily update on September 1, Ukraine’s military said its forces “continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.”
Addressing EU foreign ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo on August 31, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed critics of his country’s counteroffensive and the speed of its advance into Russian-held territory.
Kuleba said the critics are “spitting into the face” of the Ukrainian soldier “who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward, and liberating 1 kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another.”
He said all critics should “shut up,” inviting them to try to clear even 1 square centimeter of territory by themselves.
Since launching its counteroffensive, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia’s main defenses.
Kuleba and his counterparts discussed further support for Ukraine, and he urged them to approve more arms to help Kyiv fight against the Russian invasion.
“The war is raging,” Kuleba said in his address to the EU foreign ministers, asking for more armored vehicles and tanks, as well as armored ambulances, which are in high demand.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
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