Russian air defense systems intercepted a record 1,214 Ukrainian drones across the country amid an overnight air barrage, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, as authorities in Ukraine said Russia killed at least 14 people in a strike on a train platform.
The total number of downed drones in Russia surpassed the previous record set on Sept. 20, when the military reported destroying more than 1,100 Ukrainian unmanned aircraft across the country and annexed Crimea during the final day of parliamentary and regional elections.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Thursday that 613 drones were tracked in the skies above the Moscow region overnight, with around a third of them being destroyed on their approach to the Russian capital.
The Kremlin condemned the attack on Moscow, which is currently hosting more than 22 foreign leaders at the Russia-Africa summit.
In Ukraine, authorities in the Dnipro region said a Russian drone struck a train platform, killing 14 people and wounding five others. It marked one of the most deadly attacks on the southeastern region in recent months.
A separate attack on the Rivne region of northwestern Ukraine killed one person overnight.
Back in Russia, authorities in the industrial city of Sterlitamak, located in the republic of Bashkortostan, said falling drone debris caused minor damage at an industrial site.
The exiled outlet Astra said it used eyewitness footage of smoke rising above an industrial area in Sterlitamak to identify the targeted site as the Bashkir Soda Company, located 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) east of Russia’s border with Ukraine. It was previously attacked on Aug. 27.
The company is Russia’s only producer of terephthaloyl chloride, a critical chemical used to make high-strength aramid fibers found in body armor, helmets and protective military vehicle materials.
In the Perm region, Governor Dmitry Makhonin said a Ukrainian drone attack caused slight damage to an industrial facility, which he did not identify by name.
One person was killed and seven were injured in the southwestern Belgorod region, according to local officials.
Thursday’s deadly exchange of attacks in Russia and Ukraine came as negotiators from the two warring countries prepare to hold a new round of U.S.-mediated talks to end the conflict.
A renewed flurry of diplomacy, spearheaded by White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has once again raised hopes that a peace agreement can be reached.
However, serious doubts remain about the extent to which either Ukraine or Russia is ready to make a compromise on what have so far been major sticking points, such as control of the eastern Donbas region and security guarantees that will satisfy both countries.
European officials have increasingly thrown themselves into the fray of diplomacy with Moscow in recent months, with the leaders of Norway and Finland earlier this week holding a call with Putin to discuss ways to de-escalate the Ukraine war.
Despite the outreach from officials in Europe, the Kremlin has stressed that it is not yet ready to have them directly involved in peace talks, which have so far been limited to meetings between Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators.
Still, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said Thursday that Moscow would “sooner or later need to talk to people we don’t particularly like,” referring to European leaders.
AFP and Reuters contributed reporting.
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