Russia blames Kiev for Moscow drone attacks
Several buildings in the Russian capital were targeted this morning in a drone attack in Moscow.
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A 'No fly zone' sign is seen at the empty Red Square closed for Victory Parade preparation, next to the Moscow Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (AP)
Russia's Defence Ministry accuses Ukraine of targeting Moscow with eight drones on Tuesday, adding that all the drones involved in the incident were downed. "This morning, the Kiev regime launched a terrorist drone attack on targets in the city of Moscow," the defense ministry said.
It added that three of them were suppressed by electronic warfare, lost control, and deviated from their intended targets and that another five drones were shot down by the Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile system in the Moscow region.
UAV launches have been banned in Moscow and in many parts of the country, after the drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month.
But this morning, several buildings in the Russian capital were targeted in a drone attack, said Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, adding that "in the early hours of this morning, a UAV attack caused minor damage to several buildings. No one has been seriously injured. All emergency services in the city are on the scene. Please only trust official sources of information and do not spread unverified information."
The mayor said that residents were evacuated from the two drone-hit buildings, adding that "for safety reasons, during the work of emergency services, measures were taken to evacuate residents of several entrances in two houses that were hit by a UAV," explaining that residents can return to their apartments after special services are done with their work.
A spokesperson for emergency services told Sputnik that drones hit two residential buildings in southern Moscow: on Profsoyuznaya Street and Atlasova Street, but no one was injured. "A drone hit the upper floors of a residential building on Profsoyuznaya Street 98. The facade and glazing of the house were destroyed. There were no casualties," he said.
Emergency services are working at the scene of the UAV attack in Moscow's Leninsky Avenue pic.twitter.com/3WIArdw4FW
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 30, 2023
Andrey Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said that several drones had been shot down as they approached Moscow. "This morning, residents of some districts of the Moscow Region could hear the sounds of explosions - this is the work of our air defenses. Several drones were shot down on approach to Moscow," the governor wrote on Telegram.
He asked residents to remain calm and said all emergency services are working. That said, the latest series of incidents involving UAVs comes after earlier this month, Moscow said that Ukraine attempted to strike the Kremlin residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin with two drones. There were no casualties from the incident. The drones were intercepted and destroyed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was not in the Kremlin at that moment, and Russia's Investigative Committee initiated a case over a terrorist attack "in connection with an attempt by Kiev to strike" the Kremlin with drones.
