RUSSIA DESTROYS DRONES NEAR MOSCOW
Russia shot down two drones near Moscow overnight, officials said Wednesday, the 12th time in the past three weeks they have reported intercepting such aerial assaults in the heart of the capital. The attacks suggest that the effort to push Russia's war deep into its own territory was picking up pace amid Ukraine's marathon counteroffensive to take back occupied territory.
There were no casualties or damage, and air defenses destroyed the drones, Russia's Ministry of Defense said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian officials did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, but in the past they have made clear that the war's devastation would not be limited to Ukrainian soil.
The drone attacks came on the same day that a powerful explosion ripped through a warehouse outside Moscow, killing one person and injuring at least 60 others, according to a post on Telegram by local officials.
The blast was at a warehouse storing fireworks on the grounds of the Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant in the town of Sergiyev Posad, less than 50 miles from the capital.
Authorities said the blast was not related to the drones flying near Moscow. But the explosion raised some eyebrows in Ukraine.
The Zagorsk company is a leading developer and manufacturer of optical and optoelectronic devices for law enforcement agencies, industry and health care, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
According to documents uncovered by independent investigative outlet Agentstvo, the plant had signed a contract through 2027 to produce parts for a stealth long-range bomber for the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The drone strikes and the warehouse explosion came as Russia has unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine. This week, Russia struck the small city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, in a “double tap” attack with missile strikes, 37 minutes apart, killing nine people and injuring 82 others.
And on Wednesday evening, Russian strikes in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least three people and injured five others, the mayor and other officials said.