A woman is killed near Moscow after more than 140 Ukrainian drones target Russia, officials say

Over 140 Ukrainian drones targeted multiple Russian regions overnight, including Moscow and surrounding areas, killing at least one person and injuring eight, officials said Tuesday, in one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian soil in the 2 1/2-year war.

A woman died in the town of Ramenskoye, just outside Moscow, where drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. Five residential buildings were evacuated due to falling drone debris, Vorobyov said.

The attack also prompted the authorities to shut three airports just outside Moscow — Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky — forcing 48 flights to be diverted to other airports, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia.

The first two airports, which are Russia's second- and third-busiest, reopened in the morning but Zhukovsky was still closed in the afternoon because law enforcement officers were dealing with drone debris there, an airport spokesperson told the Interfax news agency.

It was the second massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia this month. On Sept. 1, the Russian military said it intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones over more than a dozen Russian regions in what Russian media described as the biggest Ukrainian drone barrage since the start of the war. Russia’s Investigative Committee announced a criminal investigation into what it described as a terror attack.

Russia has pummeled Ukraine with missiles, glide bombs and its own drones, killing over 10,000 civilians since the war began in 2022, according to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 46 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight. The air force said it downed 36 of the drones.

Ukraine has invested a lot of effort in developing domestic drone production, extending drones’ range, payload and uses. It has increasingly utilized drone blitzes to slow Russia’s war machine, disrupt Russian society and provoke the Kremlin.

Ukrainian officials have complained that weapons pledged by the country’s Western partners fall short of what their military needs and commonly arrive long after promised. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged defense companies to increase their output.

On the battlefield's 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, Ukrainian troops are up against Russia's larger and better-equipped army. The two sides are especially contesting parts of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, fighting over towns and villages that are bombed-out wrecks, while Ukraine last month launched a bold incursion into Russia's Kursk border region.

In Moscow on Monday night, drone debris fell on a private house on the outskirts of the city, but no one was hurt, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. He counted over a dozen drones heading toward Moscow that were shot down by air defenses as they were approaching the city.

Overall, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it “intercepted and destroyed” 144 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, including those on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia.

Ukrainian officials declined to comment on the attack.

As the war drags on, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been expanding his alliances:

The Russian military on Tuesday began massive naval and air drills, involving over 90,000 troops and over 400 warships, that China will also take part in, the Defense Ministry said.

Putin is also beefing up his military arsenal with Iranian ballistic missiles, the United States and Britain said Tuesday.

Moscow and the surrounding region have often come under attack throughout the war.

In May 2023, Russian officials said Ukraine tried to attack the Kremlin with drones which lightly damaged the roof of the palace that includes one of Putin’s official residences.

In August 2023, a drone attack on Moscow’s prestigious business district blew out part of a section of windows on a high-rise building and sent glass cascading to the streets, unsettling Muscovites. The attacks exposed gaps in the city and region’s air defenses.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

People gather to talk with local officials at the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building, following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

In this photo taken from video released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel, Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev, back to the camera, visits a wounded man after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on multi-storey residential building prior to be transferred to a Moscow's hospital, in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel, medical workers roll on a stretcher with a wounded man to a helicopter and transfer him to a Moscow's hospital, after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on multi-storey residential building in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel via AP)

A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building, following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building, following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

Police cars are parked at the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building with the children's playground, foreground, following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel shows the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel via AP)

This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel shows the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel via AP)

This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel shows the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel via AP)

AVIGNON, France (AP) — A man accused of drugging his then-wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade is testifying in court on Tuesday in southern France, in a case that has shocked the country.

Dominique Pélicot, now 71, faces 20 years in prison if convicted. While he previously confessed to investigators, the court testimony will be crucial for the panel of judges to decide on the fate of some 50 other men standing trial next to him, all accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot.

Many also hope his testimony will shed some light — to try to understand the unthinkable.

Gisèle Pélicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for agreeing to waive her anonymity in the case and let the trial be public, is expected to speak in court after her ex-husband's testimony on Tuesday.

Bernadette Tessonière, a 69-year-old retiree who lives a half-hour drive from Avignon, where the trial is taking place, arrived outside the courthouse at 7:15 a.m. to make sure she would secure a seat in the closely watched case.

“How is it possible that in 50 years of communal life, one can live next to someone who hides his life so well? This is scary,” she said, while standing in a line outside the courthouse. “I don’t have much hope that what he did can be explained, but he is at least going to give some elements.”

Pélicot’s much-awaited testimony was delayed by days after he fell ill, suffering from a kidney stone and urinary infection, his lawyers said.

A security agent caught Pélicot in 2020 taking videos under women’s skirts in a supermarket, according to court documents. Police searched Pélicot's house and electronic devices, and found thousands of photos and videos of men engaging in sexual acts with Gisèle Pélicot while she appears to lie unconscious on their bed.

With the recordings, police were able to track down a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking.

She and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple left the Paris region to move into a house in Mazan, a small town in Provence.

When police officers called her in for questioning in late 2020, she initially told them her husband was “a great guy,'' according to legal documents. They then showed her some photos. She left her husband and they are now divorced.

Besides Pélicot, 50 other men, aged 26 to 74, are standing trial. Many deny having raped Pélicot, saying they were manipulated by her ex-husband or claiming they believed she was consenting.

FILE - Gisele Pelicot speaks to media as she leaves the Avignon court house, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Gisele Pelicot, left, arrives in the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Gisele Pelicot, left, arrives in the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)