Two Ukrainian drones attacked Russian town of Kurchatov, one drone shot down on approach to Moscow, local officials say.

Kursk regional Governor Roman Starovoit said emergency services were assessing the damage in Kurchatov town following the early morning attack on Friday.

Starovoit wrote on the Telegram messaging app that two buildings were damaged but did not provide further details.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported early on Friday that Russian air defences had shot down a drone that was approaching the capital city.

The drone was downed near Lyubertsy, located approximately 20km (12 miles) southeast of central Moscow, he wrote on Telegram. No further details were available.

On Thursday, Sobyanin said that wanted to expand Moscow’s air defences, in the face of near-daily drone attacks on the Russian capital.

“This year, we have done a lot to protect Moscow from drones and attempted terrorist attacks,” Sobyanin told representatives of municipal companies, according to the Interfax news agency.

New air defence systems have been erected in recent weeks, sometimes on a daily basis, Sobyanin said.

“Sometimes the asphalt doesn’t even have time to cool down – and already the missiles are in action, shooting down the flying drones,” he said, according to Interfax.

Independent observers have expressed doubts about official reports from Russia that many of the suspected Ukrainian drones are detected and shot down by Moscow’s air defence.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed on Thursday night that Ukrainian forces had produced a new weapon that had a target range of some 700km (435 miles).

He did not provide further details other than to say efforts were being made to further increase the range of the new weapon.