Ukrainian drone shot down near Moscow, Russia says

A Ukrainian drone has been shot down near Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry has said.

It is the third drone strike or attempt on the capital region this month.

There were no injuries or damage, the ministry added.

It did not give details about where the drone was shot down on Friday morning, but said it took place in the Moscow Oblast, a region surrounding but not including the city itself.

The incident adds to concern about Moscow’s vulnerability to attack as the war with Ukraine enters its 18th month.

Two drones hit the Russian capital on Monday, with one of them falling in the city centre near the defence ministry’s headquarters along the Moscow River about two miles from the Kremlin.

The other drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors.

In another attack on July 4, the Russian military said four drones were downed by air defences on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian presidential office said on Friday that at least one civilian was killed and three others have been wounded in Russian attacks over the past day in the Donetsk region, where residential areas in 10 communities were shelled.

The office also said five civilians were injured in shelling of the village of Novoosynove in the Kharkiv region and one wounded in shelling in the Kherson region.

The city of Nikopol, across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, was shelled five times, the office said.

The Ukrainian military said its forces have taken control of the village of Staromayorske in the Donetsk region.

But its overall synopsis of fighting in the past day did not indicate significant advances in Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian-held areas.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Odesa, the Black Sea major port city hit by severe Russian missile and drone strikes over the past week, inflicting heavy damage on the city’s landmark Orthodox cathedral and other sites in the city’s historic centre.

Mr Zelensky inspected the cathedral and visited medical facilities, his office said.