Russian authorities say they have destroyed two attacks Unmanned aircraft targeted Moscow on Monday morning in what it called an offensive by Ukrainian forces. No one was injured, they said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
At least two non-residential buildings were targeted around 4 a.m. local time, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram account, adding that there had been no “serious damage or casualties”. The Russian Ministry of Defense previously confirmed that it used an electronic defense system to neutralize it Unmanned aircraft.
Authorities have closed part of Komsomolsky Prospect, a boulevard that runs through central Moscow, and are investigating a drone found there, according to Tass, a state media outlet. Videos verified by The New York Times show damage at at least two locations near the Moskva River south of the city.
Smoke rises from the top floors of a high-rise in the complex for Leroy Merlin, a French home improvement store. Other footage shows damage to several structures along Komsomolsky Prospect – near the Russian Defense Ministry – including the Military University building and the Central Military Band, a performance group of the Russian Armed Forces. It was not possible to determine from the images whether the drone caused the damage.
Since Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine last year, fighting has focused on the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Russia has fired missiles and drones at cities across Ukraine almost every day while Russian cities, including Moscow, have avoided the violence of war. But in MaybeMoscow’s relative safety was disrupted when the first full-scale drone strikes were launched against the capital, which is nearly 800 kilometers from the border with Ukraine and even further than the front lines.
Ukraine has maintained a policy of not commenting on any attacks inside Russia that appear to involve the military or its supporters, arguing that silence allows it to maintain an element of surprise and a military advantage. But on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to retaliate against Russia after a week of deadly attacks on Odesa that targeted civilians, infrastructure and port facilities vital to grain exports. Ukraine has begun to publicly claim responsibility for attacks in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, arguing that the attacks are happening inside Ukrainian territory.
Shawn Paik And Kim Yu Young contribution report.
