Russia has accused the Ukrainian government of launching “a terrorist drone attack” on Moscow.
In a message on Telegram, the defence ministry said that “the Kyiv regime has launched a terrorist drone attack on the city of Moscow”, claiming that “eight aircraft-type drones were employed in the attack” but “all enemy drones were downed”.
Three of the drones were “suppressed by electronic warfare”, it said, and “lost control, and deviated from their intended targets”. The other five were “shot down by the Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile system in the Moscow region”, it reported.
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Earlier, Russian state media bulletins reported that two people were injured and buildings were damaged in the attacks, reported CNN. Emergency services were continuing to work at the sites, said Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin.
“Residents in Moscow awoke this morning to the sound of explosions,” said The Times. The Russian capital was “under siege” as the war “comes to Putin’s doorstep”, the Daily Mail reported.
According to “a senior Russian politician”, three drones “were shot down over the city’s exclusive Rublyovka suburb, where President Putin has an official residence”, added The Times.
The paper added that “a Ukrainian presidential aide denied Russian claims that Kyiv was responsible, but predicted more such attacks”. The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, had warned that there would be a swift response to a series of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv.
Moscow, which is more than 620 miles from Ukraine, has “only rarely been targeted by drone attacks since the start of the conflict”, said The Guardian, even though such attacks have “become more common elsewhere in Russia”.
At the beginning of this month, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin in an attack blamed on Ukraine. There were reports of an explosion and smoke was seen rising from a Kremlin building. The Russian government described it as “an assassination attempt” against Vladimir Putin. If this were true, it would be a “highly embarrassing incident” for the Kremlin, said the BBC.
