Drone attack on military base near Moscow city thwarted: Governor

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Jun 2023 11:21

Moscow's regional governor confirms that two drones were shot down near a military base just 50 km from Moscow city.

A Russian specialist inspects the damaged facade of a building after a drone attack in Moscow in May 2023 (AFP)

Russia shot down two drones approximate to a military base near Moscow in the early hours of Wednesday morning, while three other drones were downed by electronic warfare on the outskirts of the country's capital.

Moscow's regional governor, Andrei Vorobyov, said on his Telegram channel that the UAVs shot down close to the military base did not cause material damage nor resulted in the fall of victims.

"Two drones crashed today at 5:30 and 5:50 in the morning on approach to storage units of a military base" in the Naro-Fominsk district, around 50 kilometers southwest of the city of Moscow.

Commenting on the drones jammed in neighborhoods around Moscow, a law enforcement officer said that "three drones were downed by electronic warfare out in a field near the village of Lukino in Novaya Moskva and in the area [of deployment] of the Tamanskaya division in [the Naro-Fominsky District of] the Moscow Region; they fell without damaging any facilities."

The second attack also did not result in victims and is currently being investigated.

Drone attack on DPR

Donetsk was also subjected to a drone attack earlier on Wednesday, a Sputnik correspondent reported, saying that the UAV targeted a residential high-rise building in the DPR's city.

An apartment on the 20th floor in a building located at Mayakovsky Avenue in the center of Donetsk was hit by the drone. However, no victims were reported, and onsite investigations are ongoing.

Drone attacks on Russian territory have significantly increased in the past few weeks, and more so after Ukraine announced launching its counteroffensive attack.

On its part, Kiev has not publicly claimed the attack nor any other prior drone attack on Russia, however, senior Ukrainian officials have recurrently welcomed the news of drone attacks against Russian territory.

On June 4, drone attacks on Crimea were thwarted by Russian air defenses that successfully shot down five Ukrainian drones overnight, as electronic systems jammed four others.

In May, Kremlin said two UAVs attempted to target the Kremlin residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirming that he was left unharmed by the attack and that Russia reserves the right to initiate retaliation against Kiev's attack.

While the US said that it does not support attacks inside Russia and concentrates on aiding Ukraine to retake its territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the Kremlin attack could not have taken place without Washington's knowledge, warning that Russia would respond with "concrete actions".