Russia Repels One of Largest Air Attacks on Moscow Since Start of War

Source; CFR

Russia shot down ten drones over the Moscow area today in one of the largest attacks on the city since the war in Ukraine began, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. A total of forty-five drones were repelled across Russia overnight, the Russian defense ministry said. The attack was Ukraine’s latest assertion of force on Russian territory as Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region extends into its third week.

While Ukraine regularly targeted Moscow with drones last summer, such attacks have been less common this year as Kyiv focuses its efforts on military and energy installations near Russia’s border. The military push into Kursk aims to persuade Russia “to enter a fair negotiation process,” a Ukrainian presidential advisor said last week. On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kyiv, where he said he plans to discuss the peaceful resolution of the war. (Bloomberg, Politico, Reuters)

Analysis

“Few Western observers expected any significant Ukrainian offensive this summer, let alone one that could penetrate well into Russia. If nothing else, Kyiv has demonstrated that it is very much still in the fight, easing recent concerns about its staying power,” the Public Interest Journalism Lab’s Nataliya Gumenyuk writes for Foreign Affairs.??

“However it ends, the Kursk offensive will offer critical insights into Ukrainian long-term campaign planning as well as Kyiv’s ability to utilize all the assistance the West continues to provide. Creative, robust planning and training are comparative advantages that the West and Ukrainian allies hold over Russia, and Ukrainian success is likely to hinge on their continued exploitation,” the U.S. Army War College’s John R. Deni writes for Foreign Policy.