A significant drone attack shook Moscow and its surrounding areas early on Sunday, leading to injuries to one woman and temporarily disrupting operations at some of Russia’s busiest airports, according to authorities.

In related news, a senior defense official from the United Kingdom indicated that Russian military forces experienced their worst month for casualties in October since the onset of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The UK’s chief of defense, Tony Radakin, reported to the BBC that Russian troops incurred an average of 1,500 dead and injured each day, raising their total military losses to approximately 700,000 over the course of the conflict.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin noted that 32 drones were intercepted around the outskirts of the capital. Furthermore, Russia’s aviation authority confirmed that flight operations were briefly suspended at major international airports, including Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.

In a locality southeast of Moscow, a woman in her fifties sustained burns to her face, neck, and hands due to a fire ignited by the drones, as reported by local Governor Andrei Vorobyov. Fortunately, no injuries were recorded within Moscow itself, although reports from Russian channels on Telegram indicated that drone debris had set residential areas ablaze in the suburbs.

Radakin pointed out that ordinary Russian citizens were bearing an “extraordinary price” amid the ongoing conflict, while a prolonged and intense Russian offensive in Ukraine’s industrial eastern regions continues to achieve slight territorial gains. He did not disclose how UK officials arrived at the casualty figures for Russian forces.

While acknowledging that Russia was successfully making tactical advances and exerting pressure on Ukraine, Radakin emphasized that these were merely “tiny increments of land.” He expressed concern that Moscow’s increasing defense and security expenditure was intensifying the financial burden on the nation.

Radakin urged Ukraine’s Western allies to continue their support for as long as necessary to counter Russian military aggression, despite indications from associates of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that Kyiv may need to relinquish territory in the pursuit of peace.

From the onset of the war, both Moscow and Kyiv have closely guarded their casualty figures, amid continuing reports of substantial losses suffered by Russian forces during their relentless “human wave” assaults designed to wear down Ukrainian defenses.