Following the latest Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region, the Kremlin sees its war policy confirmed.

“We must continue the special military operation to protect ourselves from such incidents,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russian state news agencies, using the government’s official term for its war against Ukraine.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported a total of 144 drones had been shot down over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Kaluga and Tula regions as well as the Moscow region.

A woman was reportedly killed in a residential building.

While there are almost daily civilian casualties in Ukraine from Russian drone or missile attacks, Mr Peskov labelled the deadly Ukrainian attack as “the essence of the Kiev regime.”

As Ukraine continues to defend itself against a full-scale Russian invasion launched more than two and a half years ago, Kiev has repeatedly attacked Russian territory using drones and missiles to disrupt Russian military supplies.

Kiev denies that it is attacking civilian targets.

Russia, in turn, regularly fires on its neighbour’s hinterland, primarily targeting Ukraine’s energy supply. The systematic destruction of power stations and substations has left Ukraine’s energy grid unstable. People often don’t have electricity for hours on end. (dpa/NAN)