SAPRONOVO, Russia - Ukrainian drones smashed into high-rise apartment blocks and hit parking lots on the outskirts of Moscow in the early hours of Tuesday, with both sides saying it was the largest attack on the Russian capital of the three-year-conflict.
The Kremlin condemned the attack, which came hours before top US and Ukrainian officials sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia and after three years of Russian aerial barrages on Ukrainian cities.
The attack killed three people, Russian officials said.
Kyiv said the strikes should push Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept its call for a halt to long-range aerial strikes, a proposal Moscow has previously ruled out.
Ukrainian and US diplomats were meeting for talks on ending the conflict, with Kyiv saying it would try to get Washington -- which has resumed talks with Moscow under President Donald Trump -- on board with the idea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Kyiv targeting "residential houses", claiming Russia's own forces only hit military infrastructure, despite near daily attacks on Ukraine's civilian areas and thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed by its offensive.
Moscow's army said it intercepted 343 Ukrainian drones with some falling on "residential and economic infrastructure".
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the "most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow".
At the site of one attack, AFP journalists saw holes on the upper floors of an apartment block and broken glass and debris strewn across the asphalt.
The drones hit areas surrounding Moscow, including Ramenskoye that is home to an air base, and an area near Moscow's Domodedovo airport.
'All the neighbours jumped'
"We were sleeping, there was an explosion, the children screamed," Yevgenia Bakatuyeva, a 38-year-old who lives in one of the apartment blocks that was hit in Sapronovo, south of Moscow, told AFP.
"I opened my door, and all the neighbours jumped out. Somebody was in blood," she added.
Artyom, a 34-year-old car sales manager also living in the building, said he had "only seen such things on TV" and that it was "scary when in real life."
The conflict in Ukraine often feels distant in the Russian capital, where life has continued as Moscow's army advances and attacks Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine has previously targeted Moscow, but deadly strikes so far away from the front lines are rare.
No air raid alert or siren was announced in the capital amid the attack.
More than 90 drones were intercepted over the Moscow Region, which surrounds the heavily defended capital. The rest targeted regions surrounding Moscow as well as regions bordering Ukraine.
Truce in the sky
Russian aviation officials temporarily closed the four main airports serving Moscow.
Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said a 50-year-old and a 38-year-old security guard were killed, with a local official later saying a third man died in hospital.
The health ministry earlier said several people were in hospital, including a child.
Russia's investigative committee called it a "terrorist attack" and opened a criminal investigation.
In the Vladimir region, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow, a village of around 800 people was evacuated after two drones there were shot down, local authorities said.
Russia's foreign ministry said it had taken OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu -- in Moscow on Tuesday -- to the site of one of the attacks.
'Signal to Putin'
"This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air," said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's National Security Council's Center for Countering Disinformation.
Kyiv is set to present the United States with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under Trump has demanded concessions to end the conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will take part in the Saudi talks, indicated the idea had promise.
Russia has previously ruled out partial ceasefires.
Russia's defence ministry said the attack, hours before the talks, were designed to "demonstrate" Ukraine's military capacity.
On the battlefield, Moscow said it retook 12 villages in its Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, territory Kyiv hoped to use as leverage in peace negotiations, but where it has been losing ground.
Russia also said it captured the village of Dachne in eastern Ukraine.
Russia's military launched a ballistic missile and 126 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's air force said.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions overnight as air defence downed a wave of drones.
A Russian bomb attack on the eastern Donetsk region killed one and wounded four, the regional governor said.
