Moscow mayor says Russia shot down two drones

City mayor alleges that combat drones en route to the nation's capital were downed by military forces

Moscow is now vulnerable following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power, people say. AP

Russian forces downed two combat drones headed for Moscow, the city's mayor said on Wednesday, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.

“Two combat drones' attempt to fly into the city was recorded. Both were shot down by air defence,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, without naming an attacker.

He said one drone was downed in the Domodedovo area on the southern outskirts of the city, while the second was shot down in the Minsk motorway area, west of the capital.

“At the moment, there is no information about victims of the fall of the wreckage,” he said, adding that emergency services were on the ground.

The strikes are at least the third attack on Moscow within a week, with Ukrainian drones downed on Sunday and Monday, according to Russian officials.

Moscow was rarely targeted throughout the conflict in Ukraine until several attacks this year.

Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday it had downed seven drones over the Kaluga region, less than 200 kilometres south-west of Moscow.

On July 30, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “war” was coming to Russia, with the country's “symbolic centres and military bases” becoming targets.

At the start of this month, an office block in the capital's main business district was struck twice within days by debris from a downed drone strike.