A total of 493 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region from the evening of October 13 through the morning of October 14, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Air defense forces intercepted most of the drones at distant approaches, Sobyanin said, and destroyed 180 more as they neared Moscow. No damage or casualties were reported.
Ukrainian Telegram channels have published footage purportedly filmed in the Moscow region showing a “Pantsir” air defense system firing at targets directly from a highway.
Drones also struck the Saratov region. Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said several residential buildings in Balakovo were damaged and that, according to preliminary information, one person was killed. He later clarified that “all infrastructure facilities in Balakovo are operating normally.”
Monitoring Telegram channels claim the strikes in the Saratov region hit the MegaCOD data center belonging to Sberbank. Construction of the data center in Balakovo began in 2021, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko promised it would become the largest in Russia.
The independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo examined photos from the Telegram channels and confirmed they show a damaged Sberbank data center. Fire Point, a Ukrainian manufacturer of drones and missiles, also reported the strike on the Sberbank data center.
The Telegram channel Exilenova+ also confirmed a strike on the industrial zone of the “MZ Balakovo” metallurgical plant, which produces steel and rolled metal products.
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