Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

It was part of a larger aerial bombardment of Russia by Ukrainian UAVs, with the Kremlin claiming to have shot down a total of 45 drones.

Although Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for attacks launched outside of its internationally recognised border, Kyiv has targeted Moscow in the past, but nothing on the scale witnessed last night.

Moscow’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 10 UAVs had been destroyed over the Moscow region.

“The air defence forces of the Ministry of Defence shot down 10 units this night,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

He went on to claim: “This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones of all time. We continue to monitor the situation.”

Ukraine’s army also targeted several other Russian regions, as it steps up its bombardment of the country.

Russia’s MoD said it shot down 23 UAVs over the Bryansk region, 6 over the territory of the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two more over the Kursk region.

It comes as Ukrainian forces continue their incursion into the Kursk region, as they look to make further territorial gains.

Reports suggest that Kyiv’s forces are fast approaching the Seim river, and are reportedly 2.6 kilometres away.

If they succeed in reaching the river, then around 3,000 Russian troops could be trapped, unable to escape.

Kyiv claimed to have seized 1,250 square kilometres of enemy territory and 93 settlements so far.

Meanwhile, Putin’s forces continue their advance on the cities of Torestk and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.

On Tuesday, Russia’s army said it captured a small town called Niu-York, as part of its push towards the two key cities.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the east as difficult but said Ukrainian troops were doing all they could to destroy the Russian forces.

During a briefing, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, head of Ukraine’s army said that Russia was sending additional troops to the front line in the east.

A Russian defence ministry statement said active operations by units of its Centre forces group had defeated Ukrainian troops.

The statement described Niu-York as “one of the largest settlements of the Toretsk agglomeration and a strategically important logistics hub”.