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Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin delivers a speech on Sept. 9, 2023 in Moscow. (Contributor/Getty Images)
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Russian air defense units destroyed two drones flying towards Moscow overnight on March 17, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed.

Sobyanin said the drones were intercepted over the city's Domodedovo district. Preliminary reports indicate that there are no casualties.

Emergency services are at work at the crash site, he said.

Kyiv does not usually comment on reports of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian soil. A series of attacks on Russia's oil refineries over the past week represent an exception: the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) have taken credit for the strikes.

Ukraine has hit oil refineries in Russia's Samara, Ryazan, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, and Leningrad oblasts over the past week.

Another Russian refinery was allegedly hit the same night that Sobyanin reported drones over Moscow. A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Krasnodar Krai, according to Russian media. Eyewitnesses claimed over five drones struck the facility, and one worker was reportedly killed.

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5:52 PM

Reuters: Chinese military officers have been present behind Russian lines with Beijing’s approval.

More than 100 Chinese nationals fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine are acting as mercenaries and do not appear to have direct ties to Beijing, according to two U.S. officials cited by Reuters. However, a former intelligence official told Reuters that Chinese military officers were present behind Russian lines, with Beijing’s approval, to observe and draw tactical lessons from the war.
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