Photo: Alexander Kazakov Sputnik via Associated Press Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on November 21 2023. “In Kiev, ten years ago, there was a coup d'état by force, and the legitimate authorities were overthrown,” he said on Sunday.
Russia said on Sunday it had shot down Ukrainian drones in four of its regions, including around the capital Moscow, as well as two Ukrainian missiles over the Sea of Azov, the day after a large drone attack on the city of Kiev.
The drone attacks targeted Russian regions bordering Ukraine and around Moscow, Russian authorities said. “Air defense destroyed four Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk, Smolensk and Tula regions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday, Russia said Ukrainian drones had also been shot down over the Moscow region and said it had shot down two Ukrainian missiles heading towards its territory over the Sea of Azov.
“Russian air defense located and destroyed two Ukrainian missiles over the Azov Sea area,” according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
For its part , Ukraine claimed to have shot down eight of the nine drones launched against its territory on Sunday.
These offensives come the day after a vast drone attack launched by Moscow against the Ukrainian capital, presented by Kiev as the most important since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
According to Ukraine, Moscow had launched 75 attack drones on Saturday, mainly in the direction of the capital Kiev, of which 71 were shot down by Ukrainian forces.
This attack left five injured, according to the report communicated on Saturday by the authorities, and deprived of electricity to dozens of apartment buildings and buildings.
As winter approaches, Kiev is preparing for a new campaign of massive Russian bombings targeting its energy infrastructure and fears a situation similar to that of winter 2022, when millions of people were deprived of power during the wave of cold.
“Coup d’Etat”
Saturday's drone attack also took place on the day of commemoration in Ukraine of the Holodomor, the great famine of the 1930s which caused the death of millions of Ukrainians, a “genocide” orchestrated by Joseph Stalin , according to Kiev.
In a message commemorating the Holodomor, US President Joe Biden assured on Saturday that “Ukraine's agricultural infrastructure is once again being deliberately targeted” by Moscow, whom he accused of “deliberately” damaging agricultural fields and infrastructure.
Russia, for its part, emphasizes that the famine of the 1930s caused victims not only of Ukraine, but also of Russians, Kazakhs and other nationalities, in a context of land collectivization.
These offensives also took place as Ukraine celebrates the tenth anniversary of the pro-Western Maidan revolution, which aroused the anger of its Russian neighbor.
Shortly after the overthrow in 2014 by the Ukrainians of the regime in place supported by Moscow, Russia had annexed Crimea and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Ten years later, Russia continues to judge the Maidan revolution as a “coup d’état” illegitimate and aims to install a new government in Kiev.
“In Kiev, ten years ago, there was a coup d'état by force, and the legitimate authorities were overthrown,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
Russian air defense located and destroyed two Ukrainian missiles over the sea area of Azov The Russian Ministry of Defense »