Russian presidency addresses May 30 drone attack on Moscow: Peskov

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Jun 2023 18:36

On May 30, Russia's Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of targeting Moscow with eight drones.

A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-storey apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. (AFP)

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is constantly being updated on the drone attack which occurred in Moscow on May 30 and later issued orders to both President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief to deal with the matter.

"[Putin] received reports from both the Defense Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry, and from the heads of the regions - Moscow and the Moscow Region. Reports were coming in constantly. Since the information was updated very quickly, these were constant phone calls. Then came corresponding instructions from the head of state, orders from the supreme commander-in-chief, and so on," Pekov said regarding Putin's schedule on that day.

On May 30, Russia's Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of targeting Moscow with eight drones, 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 in early May.

But on May 30, 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.

On another note, Peskov told the ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’s program that new arms supplies to Kiev by the West will further escalate tensions.

"Now we are already seeing that discussion begins about deliveries, for example, from France, Germany of missiles with a range of 500 or more kilometers. This is a qualitatively different weaponry, which will eventually, let's say, lead to another spiral of escalating tensions," Peskov said as he answered questions from journalist Pavel Zarubin.

As for the amount of time Putin devotes to meetings on the progress of the special military operation as much as he needs as supreme commander-in-chief, Peskov said "exactly as much as it is necessary for the supreme commander-in-chief to exercise overall leadership."

Other fragments of the interview were posted on Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel on Sunday.