By Andrew E. Kramer and Ivan Nechepurenko

KYIV — Ukraine struck Russia with one of its largest drone attacks of the war on Tuesday (10), killing a woman in the Moscow area, setting off fires in high-rise buildings and forcing the closure of major airports near the capital, Kremlin officials said.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said it had shot down 144 Ukrainian drones in multiple regions ranging from the border area near the war zone in southwestern Russia to suburban towns around Moscow, highlighting Ukraine’s growing capability to strike back at Russia with a fleet of domestically made, long-range weapons.

About 20 of the drones were intercepted over the Moscow region, the ministry said. Ukraine typically remains ambiguous about strikes into Russia and had no immediate comment on Tuesday.

Taking the war to Russia has become a focus of Ukraine’s strategy over the summer, most prominently in a surprise ground incursion into the Kursk region of Russia, capturing more than 500 square miles of territory. At the same time, it has stepped up long-range strikes, even as Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine with missiles and pressed ahead with an offensive in the country’s east.

Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia have hit oil refineries, power plants, airfields and military factories. Ukrainian commentators have said that they are intended to disrupt logistics and provide leverage in possible settlement talks to halt Russian strikes on Ukraine.

The drones on Tuesday flew at least 270 miles from Ukraine to reach the outskirts of Moscow. The capital has largely been insulated from the war, with most troops recruited from far-flung provinces, while Ukraine’s ground incursion last month came far to the south of the city.

Authorities said a 46-year-old woman in the suburb of Ramenskoye was killed in the strike; it appears to be the first time Russia has publicly announced a death in the Moscow region resulting from a Ukrainian strike.

Witnesses posted scenes of burning buildings and smoke plumes.

Fragments from one intercepted drone fell in the area of Zhukovsky International Airport, which serves Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, the city’s mayor, said on social media. That airport and two others in the region, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, restricted operations early Tuesday, according to Artem Korenyako, a representative of Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Zhukovsky airport remained shut while the other two were reopened. Russian news agencies reported long lines at check-in counters at the Vnukovo airport.

Though Ukraine has stepped up attacks inside Russia, it is on the defensive elsewhere along the front lines, as Russia’s forces, with superior numbers, advance in the region around the eastern city of Pokrovsk, a key transit hub.

The strike damaged two apartment buildings in Ramenskoye, a town in the Moscow region, according to Andrey Vorobyov, the regional governor. Three people were hospitalized, and at least 43 residents were evacuated from burning buildings to temporary shelters, he said.

One drone struck midway up a high-rise, igniting a fire and damaging more than 50 apartments, he added.

Situated around 26 miles southeast of the Kremlin, Ramenskoye has a population of nearly 114,000 people. A former centre of the Russian textile industry, it is now one of many towns scattered outside Moscow’s city limits from where people commute daily to work in the Russian capital.

Moscow is protected by a multi-layered air defence system. Since the start of the war, air defence systems have appeared in the vicinity of high-value targets in the city, including on top of one of the main buildings of the Defence Ministry. GPS signals, which are used by drones, have also been jammed near the Kremlin, disrupting taxi and other services.

Speaking about the Ukrainian attack on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian military “has already gained considerable experience in the fight against drones.”

In the overnight drone attack, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that it had shot down 20 drones in the Moscow region, an administrative district that surrounds but does not include the capital. The ministry reported that it had shot down most of the drones in southern Russia, near Ukraine’s border.

Tuesday’s volley was among the largest reported by Russia. On Sept. 1, the Defence Ministry reported that it had shot down 158 Ukrainian exploding drones.

In that attack, videos showed fixed-wing drones — which appear like small, low-flying airplanes — buzzing into areas around Moscow. One exploded at a power plant. Last year, Russia accused Ukraine of firing drones that targeted the Kremlin and a skyscraper in Moscow’s financial district that housed government ministries.

Though the Ukrainian military’s abilities to strike deep into Russian territory are growing, Russia’s missile and drone arsenal vastly outguns Ukraine’s, and casualties are far higher inside Ukraine. The United Nations has reported that Russia’s invasion, which began in 2022, has killed more than 11,000 civilians, and that figure is considered far lower than the actual total.

Drone attacks going both directions have become a frequent feature of the war.

Russia launched 46 Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight from Monday (9) to Tuesday, Ukraine’s military reported. Attacks by at least several dozen drones have become a near-nightly ordeal for Ukrainians. The Ukrainian Air Force said that it had shot down both missiles and 38 drones.

The strikes damaged houses and wounded three people, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and local officials. One person was wounded when a drone hit a mine in eastern Ukraine, and two others were hurt by falling debris in the central Cherkasy region. The attack targeted electrical infrastructure in eight regions and caused brief electrical blackouts in some areas, the ministry said in a statement.

-New York Times