Ukrainian forces targeted Moscow with long-range aircraft-type drones capable of flying 2,000 kilometres in a massive overnight assault, Russian officials and analysts reported.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones were destroyed on the approach to the capital between 8:30 p.m. on Monday and 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The assault on the capital and the surrounding Moscow region was one of the largest recorded in the past six months.
Across all Russian territories, air defence forces shot down a total of 856 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles during the night of November 3, according to figures released by the Russian Defence Ministry.
Flight range and launch locations
Technical details concerning the design and origin of the attacking drones were revealed by Major General Sergei Lipovoy, a military specialist and recipient of the Hero of Russia honour, in an interview with the Russian news website aif.ru.
Lipovoy said Ukrainian forces frequently employ aeroplane-type drones with an operational radius of 2,000 kilometres when targeting the Moscow region. He suggested that the aircraft were dispatched from areas controlled by authorities in Kyiv, identifying the Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions as the staging grounds for the attacks.
According to Lipovoy, only a minor fraction of the launched aircraft ever reached the Moscow region, as Russian defences intercepted and neutralized the vast majority of the drones during their approach.
Capital defences and long-range drones
Aeroplane-style, or fixed-wing, drones rely on aerodynamic lift rather than vertical rotors, allowing them to carry explosive payloads over much greater distances than standard multi-rotor quadcopters. A 2,000-kilometre range gives these uncrewed aircraft the ability to travel deep into Russian airspace, flying indirect routes to bypass defensive radars or reach targets hundreds of miles behind front-line positions.
Moscow sits roughly 450 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, making the capital a primary strategic target during the conflict. To protect the metropolitan area, Russian forces maintain a layered defensive network around the capital and the neighbouring Podmoskovye district, combining long-range surveillance radar, surface-to-air missile installations and electronic warfare systems designed to sever satellite guidance signals.
Lipovoy holds the title of Hero of Russia, the highest honorary distinction awarded by the Russian state for service and bravery. His assessment comes as repeated aerial incursions test the capacity of air defences stationed along the flight corridors leading into the Russian heartland.
