Russia says a Ukrainian drone was shot down outside Moscow

The shootdown adds to concern about Moscow’s vulnerability to attack as the war enters 18th month

(AP) – A Ukrainian drone was shot down early Friday outside Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said. It was the third drone strike or attempt on the capital region this month.

The ministry said there were no injuries or damage in the early morning incident. It didn’t give details about where the drone was shot down, but said it took place in the Moscow Oblast, a region that surrounds but doesn’t include the city itself.

The shootdown adds to concern about Moscow’s vulnerability to attack as the war drags into its 18th month.

Two drones struck the Russian capital on Monday, one of them falling in the center of the city near the Defense Ministry’s headquarters along the Moscow River about three kilometers (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 defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.

The Ukrainian presidential office said Friday that at least one civilian was killed and three others were wounded in Russian attacks over the past day in the Donetsk region, where residential areas in 10 communities were shelled. The office also said that five civilians were wounded 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 Plant was shelled five times, the office said.

The Ukrainian military reported that its forces took control of the village of Staromayorske in the Donetsk region. But its overall synopsis of fighting in the past day didn’t indicate significant advances in Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian-held areas.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Odesa, the Black Sea major port city that was 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 center. Zelenskyy inspected the cathedral and visited medical facilities, his office said.