Russia Ukraine war latest news: Flights diverted as Russia intercepts multiple drones ‘heading for Moscow’

Two drones were intercepted in the skies over the Moscow region and one in the neighbouring Kaluga region, emergency services in the capital city said, reported Russia’s TASS state news agency.

“According to preliminary information, three drones were heading towards Moscow at different times,” TASS cited a source with the services as saying.

While the first two drones were intercepted in the Novaya Moskva district of the Moscow region, a third one was intercepted in the Kaluga region, just southwest of the Moscow region.

The drones were shot down near the village of Valuevo, located 30 kilometres (19 miles) southwest of the Kremlin.

No immediate casualties or damage have been reported.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak will later today take questions from MPs on the war in Ukraine.

Mr Sunak is up at the liaison super committee of Commons chairs, with Russia’s illegal invasion of its neighbour on the agenda.

Britain has been a the forefront in support Kyiv since the war broke out in February last year, providing military aid and other support.

Russia has prioritised and refined tactics aimed at slowing Ukrainian armoured counter-offensive operations in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.

“The core of this approach has been Russia’s very heavy use of anti-tank mines. In some areas the density of its minefields indicate that it has likely used many more mines than laid down in its military doctrine,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that having slowed the Ukrainian advance, Russia has now attempted to strike Ukrainian armoured vehicles with one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and artillery.

“Although Russia has achieved some success with this approach in the early stages of Ukraine’s counter-offensive, its forces continue to suffer from key weaknesses, especially overstretched units and a shortage of artillery munitions,” it added.

Operations at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport have resumed from 8am local time (0500 GMT) after several drones were intercepted, the city mayor Sergei Sobhyanin said.

The resumption of operations was confirmed by Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya.

Authorities had briefly restricted landings and takeoffs at the airport citing “technical reasons beyond the control of the airport”.

Meanwhile, the mayor accused Ukraine of another drone attack on the Russian capital and its region, adding it had been repelled.

The mayor of Moscow has blamed Ukraine for launching a drone attack on the Russian capital and its region, and said that all drones have been destroyed.

“At this moment, the attacks have been repelled by air defence forces,” mayor Sergei Sobhyanin said on Telegram.

He called it another attempt from Ukraine to attack Moscow with drones.

“All detected drones have been eliminated,” he said, adding that no casualties or injuries have been reported.

Several flights scheduled to land at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport this morning were sent to other airports, Russian agencies reported.

No immediate reason given for the changes.

It was not immediately known whether the changes were related to a number of drones being intercepted early on Tuesday near Moscow.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will participate in the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit with India’s Narendra Modi starting today.

This will be Mr Putin’s first appearance at an international event after he was challenged by a brief and aborted mutiny by his private Wagner mercenary group in late June.

The Russian president spoke to Mr Modi in a call last week to discuss the aftermath of the quashed mercenary mutiny. During the discussion Mr Modi reiterated a call for dialogue and diplomacy regarding the war in Ukraine.

SCO member nations are expected to discuss Afghanistan, terrorism, regional security, climate change and digital inclusion, among other topics.

Ukraine will soon receive “dozens” of Leopard 1 tanks from Germany and Denmark, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said.

“Dozens of Leopard-1A5 battle tanks provided by Germany and Denmark will arrive in Ukraine in the upcoming weeks,” the minister said in an interview to Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

The first batch of German Leopard 2 battle tanks were sent to Ukraine earlier this year in March, with some of them seen to have suffered in Russian attacks on the battlefield.

Mr Pistorius added that Germany currently ranks second in providing military equipment support to Ukraine among Western allies.

When Victoria Azarenka walked into Court 15 on Monday morning for her first Wimbledon match in two years, she was greeted by polite clapping. When the two-time Grand Slam champion from Belarus finished off a three-set victory more than 2 1/2 hours later, Azarenka shook her racket with her right hand and pumped her left fist, then offered a wave to the spectators who were applauding warmly.

Unlike her opponent, Yuan Yue, whose nationality was noted on the scoreboard alongside her name, Azarenka had no country listed there. That’s because players from Russia and Belarus are back competing at Wimbledon a year after they were barred by the All England Club because of the invasion of Ukraine — and, in a sort of half-measure adopted by some other sports, are deemed “neutral” athletes who officially do not represent any nation.

The war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine with help from Belarus continues, but Wimbledon’s organizers announced in March they would lift their ban — about which Azarenka said in an interview that, in the big picture, “I’m not sure that it made any difference.”

Drone footage appears to show a Russian T-62 tank exploding after driving over a mine in Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian military claimed the tank drove right into the line of anti-tank mines that Russian forces had themselves placed in an area north of Bakhmut.

The claim could not be independently verified.

A group of what appears to be Russian soldiers flee from the damaged tank after the explosion.

Preparations are underway for further counterattacks as Ukraine’s forces have gained ground near Bakhmut amid “heavy fighting,” officials said yesterday.