kraine launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday but air defences destroyed all eight of the drones, bringing the 15-month war in Ukraine to the heart of the Russian capital.
Drone attacks deep inside Russia have intensified in recent weeks, with strikes on oil pipeline installations and even the Kremlin earlier this month that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two people were injured, one of whom was hospitalised, in the early morning attack. Moscow’s airports remained open. No deaths were reported.
It comes after Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Ukraine‘s capital on Tuesday, killing at least one person and sending Kyiv‘s residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments – this the third in the space of 24 hours, according to the Kyiv Military Administration.
The buzzing of drones could be heard over the city, followed by loud explosions as they were taken down by air defence systems.
In Moscow, residents in the south-west of the city said they heard loud bangs about 2am, followed by the smell of petrol. Some filmed a drone being shot down and a plume of smoke rising over the Moscow skyline.
“This morning, the Kyiv regime launched a terrorist attack with unmanned aerial vehicles on premises in the city of Moscow,” Russia’s defence ministry said.
“Eight unmanned aerial vehicles were involved in the attack. All enemy drones were hit.”
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack. Kyiv denied that it was behind the drone raid on the Kremlin earlier this month, though The New York Times reported that US intelligence believes Ukraine was behind that attack.
A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia
/ REUTERSIn the attacks overnight on Kyiv, one person died and three were injured when a high-rise building in the Holosiiv district caught fire. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze but frequently the falling debris from drones being hit and the interceptor missiles have caused damage on the ground.
The building’s upper two floors were destroyed, and there may be people under the rubble, the Kiyv Military Administration said. More than 20 people were evacuated.
Resident Valeriya Oreshko told The Associated Press in the aftermath that even though the immediate threat was over, the attacks had everyone on edge.
“You are happy that you are alive, but think about what will happen next,” the 39-year-old said.
Oksana, who only gave her first name, said the whole building shook when it was hit.
“Go to shelters, because you really do not know where it (the drone) will fly,” she advised others. “We hold on.”
Investigators gather evidence while working outside a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia
/ REUTERSElsewhere in the capital, falling debris caused a fire in a private house in the Darnytskyi district and three cars were set alight in the Pechersky district, according to the military administration.
The series of attacks that began on Sunday included a rare daylight attack on Monday, when Russian forces fired 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv about 11.30 am, according to Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. All of them were shot down, he said.
Two upper floors of a high-rise building were destroyed in Kyiv according to local officials
/ Kyiv City Military AdministrationDebris from the intercepted missiles fell in Kyiv’s central and northern districts during the morning, landing in the middle of traffic on a city road and also starting a fire on the roof of a building, the Kyiv military administration said. At least one civilian was reported hurt.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it launched a series of strikes early Monday targeting Ukrainian air bases with precision long-range air-launched missiles. The strikes destroyed command posts, radars, aircraft and ammunition stockpiles, it claimed. It didn’t say anything about hitting cities or other civilian areas.
