Russian forces have intercepted three Ukrainian drones over the city of Moscow, the country’s defence ministry said, condemning what it called an “attempted terrorist attack”. The drone assault on the Russian capital early on Sunday wounded one person, damaged two office blocks, according to officials, and briefly forced the closure of an airport in the city.
“The Kyiv regime’s attempted terrorist attack with unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the city of Moscow was thwarted,” the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
It said one of the drones was shot down, while two, “suppressed by electronic warfare”, crashed into a building complex in Moscow’s business district. Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack “insignificantly damaged” the outsides of two buildings in the Moscow City district.
A security guard was wounded, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials. No flights went into or out of the Vnukovo airport on the southern outskirts of the city for about an hour, according to TASS, and the air space over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed for any aircraft.
Those restrictions have since been lifted. Authorities have also closed a street for traffic near the site of the crash in the Moscow City area. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials. The attack was the fourth such attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, fuelling concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.
It also comes several weeks into a Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back territory of the country captured by Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia’s foreign ministry has said such attacks “would not be possible without the help provided to the Kyiv regime by the United States and its NATO allies”.
On the other side of the border, Ukrainian authorities said at least one civilian was killed and five others wounded in a Russian missile attack on the northeastern city of Sumy.
“On the evening of July 29, an enemy missile hit an educational institution. Law enforcement officers are working at the scene, recording the effects,” the national police forces said on Telegram.
According to public broadcaster Suspilne, the building was destroyed in an explosion at about 8:00pm local time (17:00 GMT).
Source Aljazeera
