Russian air defences shot down 32 drones flying towards Moscow over the Ramenskoye and Kolomensky districts of the Moscow region, as well as in Domodedovo city, home to one of the city's biggest airports, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
"Thirty-two drones flying to Moscow have been destroyed," Sobyanin said.
Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow forced flights to be diverted from three major airports. (AP PHOTO)
He reported no major damage, although Russia's federal air transport agency said the airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovo had diverted flights.
One person was injured.
The airports have since resumed their operations, Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said.
Moscow and its surrounding region, with a population of at least 21 million people, is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe, alongside Istanbul.
The Ramenskoye district, some 45km southeast of the Kremlin, was last targeted in September in what was then Ukraine's biggest attack on the Russian capital when Russian air defence units destroyed 20 drones.
Unverified videos posted on Russian Telegram channels showed drones buzzing across the skyline.
Russian officials reported multiple Ukrainian drone attacks in other regions, among them the Kaluga, Bryansk and Orlov regions.
Kyiv officials say drone strikes against Russia could turn the war in Ukraine's favour. (AP PHOTO)
The 2.5-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final act after Moscow's forces advanced at the fastest pace since the early days of the war and Donald Trump was elected 47th president of the United States.
Trump, who takes office in January, said during campaigning that he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours but has given few details on how he would seek to do this.
Kyiv, itself the target of repeated mass drone strikes from Russian forces, has tried to strike back against its vastly larger eastern neighbour with repeated drone strikes against oil refineries, airfields and even the Russian strategic early-warning radar stations.
While the 1000km front has largely resembled grinding World War I trench and artillery warfare for much of the war, one of the biggest innovations of the conflict has been drone warfare.
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 farmers' shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.
Moscow has developed a series of electronic "umbrellas" over Moscow, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences which shoot down the drones before they reach the Kremlin at the heart of the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin has called Ukrainian drone strikes on civilian infrastructure "terrorism". (AP PHOTO)
Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their production.
Soldiers on both sides have reported a visceral fear of drones - and both sides have used macabre video footage of fatal drone strikes in their propaganda.
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, by far Russia's richest city, has boomed during the war, buoyed by the biggest defence spending splurge since the Cold War.
There was no sign of panic on Moscow's boulevards.
Muscovites walked their dogs while the bells of the onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches rang out across the capital.
