Russia says drone attack on Moscow thwarted, 3 killed near Ukrainian border
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday it had thwarted the latest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow but that three people were killed in a separate drone strike on a health facility near the Ukrainian border.
The governor of Russia's Belgorod region, which is near Ukraine and has come under frequent attack, said a drone had hit a sanatorium in a village, while another had been shot down. He said two people had died on the spot and doctors were unable to save the life of a third person.
Separately, the governor of Kaluga region, south of Moscow, said another Ukrainian drone had been shot down without causing casualties or damage.
The attempted attack on Moscow was not reported to have hurt anyone and only appeared to have caused minor damage. It was the latest in a surge of similar incidents, and once again forced Moscow's airports to briefly suspend flights as a precaution.
The Defence Ministry said air defence forces near the capital had shot down two drones over the Moscow region's Mozhaisky and Khimki districts.
It said a third had lost control but nevertheless hit a high-rise building under construction in a Moscow business district. Glass panes on three floors of the building were damaged, the state TASS news agency reported.
The same district, known as Moscow City, was hit twice in three days at the start of the month.
Unverified videos on social media showed minor damage from the two other drones which had been destroyed.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which rarely takes direct responsibility for drone strikes on Russian territory or on areas controlled by Russia, but which appears to have stepped up such attacks since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.
Russia's state aviation authority said that all of Moscow's airports were later operating normally after a temporary flight suspension was imposed.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Felix Light/Andrew Osborn, Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Bernadette Baum)
