The Kremlin has warned that Ukrainian drone attacks are “increasing” which comes as Russia blamed Kyiv for the “terrorist attack” in Moscow on Monday morning.
Moscow claims the two drones were “suppressed and crashed” and fragments hit a non-residential high rise building some 200 metres from the Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Russia’s state news said that significant damage was caused by the alleged drone attacks in Moscow.
The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “measures are being taken” to prevent such attacks and a “very intense 24-hour work is under way.”
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Russian’s Foreign Ministry said that Moscow reserves the right to take “tough retaliatory measures” against Ukraine after the drone attack.
Ukrainian media and news outlet AFP said that an unnamed defence source said the drone attacks were part of a “special operation.”
🚨Multiple drones spotted in downtown Moscow this morning. At least one drone struck a skyscraper across the street from GRU (Russian Military Intelligence) Offensive Cyber Operations headquarters. Other drones shot down and crashed into buildings near the Defence Ministry. pic.twitter.com/8iiPdob06c
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) July 24, 2023
A source said, “Today’s drone attack on Moscow was a GUR [Ukraine’s military intelligence] special operation.”
Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said, “Drones attacked the orc capital and Crimea last night. Electronic warfare and air defence are becoming less and less capable of protecting the occupiers’ skies.
“Whatever happens, there will be more of it.”
Sky News Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay said the attack was “pretty significant.”
“They were shot down by electronic warfare, says the Ministry of Defence, but they’ve still managed to damage in the centre of Moscow,” she said.
Drone attacks by 🇺🇦 in central Moscow 🇷🇺, and there seems to be at least some damage to the building of cyber operations of military intelligence GRU. I guess they are not happy. pic.twitter.com/mxX6JRGEwh
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) July 24, 2023
“That’s fairly significant, and an indicator of how targeted some of these drones can be.
“We of course don’t know if they came from the Ukrainian border or if they’ve been set up from within Russia itself by partisan activity or by Ukrainian special forces within Russia.
“But this is the second time – the third, if you include drones hitting the Kremlin in the last couple of months – that we’ve seen drone strikes successfully hit targets in central Moscow.
“Of course, Ukraine haven’t said anything about it, but Russia blames Ukraine.”
