As Ukraine’s drone attacks intensify with forces encroaching on the capital Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had downed three Kyiv drones in the capital, as authorities blamed the attack on one of the city’s airfields. The base was closed.
One drone was shot down on the outskirts of the city while the two were “suppressed by electronic warfare,” forcing them to crash into an office building, according to a ministry statement on Telegram. As a result, there was no loss of life.
The latest attack is another in a series of recent drone attacks – including on the Kremlin and Russian towns near the Ukrainian border – that Moscow has blamed on Kiev.
The ministry termed the attack as a “terrorist attempt”.
“On the morning of July 30, an attempted terrorist attack by the Kiev government using unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the city of Moscow was foiled,” he said on Telegram.
“A Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the air by an air defense system in the area of Odinsovo District, Moscow Region.”
“Two more drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed into a non-residential building complex in Moscow after losing control.”
Moscow City is a commercial development to the west of the capital.
“The facades of the city’s two office towers were slightly damaged,” its mayor Sergey Sobyanin posted on Telegram.
“No one was affected or injured,” he added.
Police personnel had cordoned off the area.
Air traffic disruption
The capital’s Vnukovo airport was “closed for departures and arrivals, flights diverted to other airports,” according to JEE News.
In less than an hour, operations appeared to be back to normal.
Earlier this month, a volley of drone strikes briefly grounded air traffic at the same airport, southwest of the city.
The attacks on Moscow come weeks after Ukraine retaliated to retake territory held by Russia since large-scale hostilities began in February 2022.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said such attacks “would not be possible without the support provided to the Kiev government by the United States and its NATO allies”.
On Friday, Russia said it intercepted two missiles in its southern Rostov region, bordering Ukraine, after debris fell on the city of Taganrog, injuring at least 16 people.
A short time later, it said it shot down a second S-200 missile near the city of Azov, with debris falling in an uninhabited area.
On the other side of the border, in the southern city of Zaporozhye, two people were killed in a Russian attack on Saturday, officials there said.
And at least one civilian was killed in a missile attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, according to Ukraine’s national police, which added that five were injured.
According to JEE News, the building was destroyed in an explosion at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT).
