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Russia says more than 600 drones launched towards Moscow overnight

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters1 min readAl Jazeera
Russia says more than 600 drones launched towards Moscow overnightRussia says more than 600 drones launched towards Moscow overnight
A damaged multistorey apartment building following a drone attack in Kotelniki in the Moscow region of Russia on September 20, 2026 [AFP]

The attack is the latest in a series of major drone assaults targeting the Moscow region.

Russia has downed most of the 613 drones launched towards Moscow overnight, in a major attack on the Russian capital, Russian state news agency TASS has reported.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that air defence forces destroyed 231 of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on approach to the city, with the remainder neutralised on distant approaches between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

The attack marks the latest in a series of major drone assaults targeting the Moscow region, following a record attack in September during which air defence forces reported shooting down more than 1,600 drones.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine’s Kharkiv, the country’s second-biggest city, damaging an educational institution, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.