Ukraine struck the Moscow region on Tuesday in its biggest drone attack so far on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing around 50 flights to be diverted from airports around Moscow.

Russia said it had destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region, which has a population of more than 21 million.

At least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of Moscow's four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the drone attack was another reminder of the real nature of Ukraine's political leadership, which he said was made up of Russia's enemies.

"There is no way that nighttime strikes on residential neighbourhoods can be associated with military action," said Peskov.

"The Kyiv regime continues to demonstrate its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue the special military operation to protect ourselves from such actions," he said, using the expression Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.

Ukraine said Russia had attacked it overnight with 46 drones, of which 38 were destroyed.

The drone attacks on Russia damaged highrise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, residents told Reuters.

Drones increasingly used by both sides

A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were wounded in Ramenskoye, Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.

Residents said they awoke to blasts and fire.

"I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire," Alexander Li, a resident of the district, told Reuters. "The window got blown out by the shockwave."

Georgy, a resident who declined to give his surname, said he heard a drone buzzing outside his building in the early hours.

"I drew back the curtain and it hit the building right before my eyes. I saw it all," he said. "I took my family and we ran outside."

The Ramenskoye district, some 50 kilometres southeast of the Kremlin, has a population of around a quarter of a million people.

More than 70 drones were also downed over Russia's Bryansk region and tens more over other regions, Russia's Defence Ministry said. There were no damage or casualties reported there.

As Russia advances in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has taken the war to Russia with a cross-border attack into Russia's western Kursk region that began on Aug. 6 and by carrying out increasingly large drone attacks deep into Russian territory.

The war has largely been a grinding artillery and drone war along the 1,000-km heavily fortified front line in southern and eastern Ukraine involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways and seek new ways to destroy them — from using shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.

Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their own production and assembly to attack targets including tanks and energy infrastructure such as refineries and airfields.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the grinding rigours of the war, has called Ukrainian drone attacks that target civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants "terrorism" and has vowed a response.

Moscow and other big Russian cities have largely been insulated from the war.

Russia itself has hit Ukraine with thousands of missiles and drones in the last two-and-a-half years, killing thousands of civilians, wrecking much of the country's energy system, and damaging commercial and residential properties across the country.

Ukraine says it has a right to strike back deep into Russia, though Kyiv's Western backers have said they do not want a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about Tuesday's attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians.