The Russian Defense Ministry claimed early on Sunday that it had shot down three Ukrainian drones that had been en route to Moscow to launch an attack.
Nobody was wounded and there was just minimal damage to the front of two office buildings in the Moskva-Citi business district, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Russian media said that three federal ministries and residential units were housed in one of the damaged buildings in the neighborhood, which is a few kilometers from the Kremlin and is famed for its modern high-rise structures.
Russia has assured the public that it is in complete control of its “special military operation” against Ukraine; however, the fact that hostile drones have begun reaching the heart of the Russian capital in recent months is unsettling for the authorities.
On Monday, Russia alleged the Ukrainian government tried to strike Moscow with two drones before one of them was shot down near the defense ministry’s headquarters. At the time, it threatened severe retaliation on Ukraine.
Following the botched attack on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov predicted additional drone strikes. The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv did not issue a statement shortly after the latest tragedy.
“There were no casualties or injuries,” Mayor Sobyanin said in a brief statement.
According to TASS, the event caused a temporary suspension of flights to and from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
According to the Defense Ministry, two drones were shot down using radio-electronic devices and crashed in the Moskva-Citi neighborhood. It was reported that another missile was intercepted and destroyed by air defenses over the Odintsovo area in the Moscow region.
According to the ministry’s announcement, “on the morning of the 30th of July, an attempt terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime using unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in the city of Moscow was foiled.”
Separately, it claimed that it had successfully prevented a nocturnal attack by 25 Ukrainian drones on the Black Sea region of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It stated that the incident in Crimea had resulted in no injuries or property damage.
Splinters and shards of glass
The incident in Moscow was recounted by a young woman who only identified herself as Liya. To relax, she and her friends leased an apartment in the area, but when they heard the explosion, “it was like a wave, everyone jumped,” she told Reuters.
And then there was a cloud of smoke so thick that visibility was completely impaired. Fire could be seen from a great height.
According to a Reuters reporter at the area, which had been sealed off by police and emergency services, some glass panels in one high-rise structure had been blown out, and glass and debris scattered part of the pavement below.
In the most publicized occurrence of its sort, two drones flew so close to the Kremlin that they were photographed.
