Drone attack on Moscow Region leaves two dead — governor

"In Sofyino, a drone hit a three-storey apartment building, damaging six apartments on the upper floor. Unfortunately, a 44-year-old woman was killed," Vorobyev wrote. "One more person was killed in the Orekhovo-Zuevo municipality. An elderly man was in a house that was destroyed and caught fire as a result of a drone attack."

Between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Moscow time (midnight and 2:00 a.m. GMT) on Sunday, at least 249 drones were jammed and destroyed in 17 municipalities of the Moscow Region.

In his words, damage to private houses and apartment blocks have been reported in a number of the region’s municipalities.

In the Ramenskoye district, the roof of a 21-storey apartment block caught fire after being hit by a drone, prompting the evacuation of around 400 people, including 70 children. In addition, 20 cars were damaged there, the governor said.

In Sofyino in the Ramenskoye district, a warehouse was set ablaze. Another serious fire was reported in the city of Kotelniki on Moscow’s southeastern outskirts, where a drone hit an apartment building, setting fire to apartments on three floors.

"Casualty reports are being verified," the governor said. "Firefighters and emergency services are working at the scene."

Later, the governor said three apartment blocks in the Novye Kotelniki residential complex in the city were damaged. It was not immediately clear whether he earlier referred to one of these buildings.

Besides, a residential building and an industrial facility were damaged in the town of Istra northwest of Moscow. Property damage was also reported in the city of Voskresensk southeast of the Russian capital.

Spokespersons for Moscow’s main airports told TASS over 30 flights have been unable to land in Moscow on Sunday for security reasons.

About 25 planes bound for Sheremetyevo Airport were diverted to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Cheboksary, St. Petersburg, Samara and Nizhnekamsk.

About 10 flights, namely from Hurghada (Egypt), Tashkent and Fergana (Uzbekistan), Istanbul and Dalaman (Turkey), Dubai (UAE), as well as Russia’s Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, were unable to land at Vnukovo Airport.