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Ukraine launches biggest drone attack on Moscow, Russia says

News Desk || risingbd.com

Published: 16:13, 30 May 2023  
Ukraine launches biggest drone attack on Moscow, Russia says

Photo: Collected

Russia has accused Ukraine of launching an early morning drone attack on Moscow, the first time the city has been targeted by multiple drones since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said Kyiv had staged a “terrorist attack” using at least eight drones and causing minor damage to several buildings.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said no-one was seriously injured.

Ukraine has denied carrying out the drone strikes.

Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said that Kyiv was not directly involved, but that Ukraine had enjoyed watching events unfold and predicted an increase in such incidents.

Russia’s defence ministry said all eight drones had been intercepted.

“Three of them were suppressed by electronic warfare, lost control and deviated from their intended targets. Another five drones were shot down by the Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile system in the Moscow region,” the ministry said.

Earlier Russian media reports had said as many as 30 drones were involved. Authorities have also said several of them fell on buildings after being downed.

Mr Sobyanin said that some residents had been evacuated but were later allowed to return home. Two people had sought medical assistance, he said.

The BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg in Moscow heard an explosion in the distance at 06:24 local time (03:24 GMT) in north-west Moscow, with the windows of his home shaking from the blast.

Another explosion was heard at 06:58, he says.

Judging by the conversations on social media, a lot of people in the Moscow area heard the explosions too, he adds.

For many in the Russian capital the war in Ukraine had been something that was happening a “long way away, it was something that they saw on television”.

The strikes on Moscow follow an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in which at least one person was reported killed.

Ukrainian officials said falling debris set buildings on fire as Ukraine's air defences intercepted more than 20 drones.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Gen Kyrylo Budanov, had warned of a swift response to a series of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv.

Dr Jack Watling, an expert on land warfare from the Royal United Services Institute, told the BBC that Ukraine had struck airfields in Russia before, but not the capital.

An alleged drone attack on the Kremlin took place in early May.

At the time, unverified footage circulated online showing smoke rising above the the complex, while a second video showed a small explosion above the site's Senate building.

Russian authorities claimed it was an attack ordered by Kyiv, while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky denied his country was involved in the incident.

Dhaka/AKA