Drones strike Moscow in first attack on capital's residential areas since the war began
Drones strike Moscow in first attack on capital's residential areas since the war began
Moscow was hit by drones Tuesday morning, in what appeared to be the first attack on residential areas of the Russian capital since the invasion of Ukraine and a dramatic display that the Kremlin's war was increasingly coming home.
The incident caused damage to some buildings and forced residents to evacuate homes, local officials said.
It comes weeks after an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin itself and following days of deadly Russian bombardment against civilians in Kyiv, as events far from the front lines take the spotlight ahead of Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that eight unmanned aerial vehicles were involved in the strikes on Moscow. All drones were destroyed, it added, with three losing control after being jammed and the other five shot down by anti-aircraft systems.
The ministry blamed Ukraine for what it called a “terrorist attack.”
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Drone Strike in Moscow Brings Ukraine War Home to Russians
At least eight drones were intercepted, the Kremlin said, but the foray raised questions about Russian air defenses.
Inspecting the damaged facade of an apartment building after a drone attack in Moscow on Tuesday.Credit...Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A barrage of attack drones were downed over Moscow on Tuesday, the first time civilian areas of the Russian capital have been touched directly by the Ukrainian conflict and a signal that a distant war may soon begin to feel somewhat less so for ordinary Russians.
The physical damage was minimal, limited to shattered apartment windows and some minor injuries in an upscale neighborhood, but the psychological impact may prove far bigger for a citizenry that to date has been able to go about daily life with little thought for the bloodshed taking place over the border.
“If the goal was to stress the population, then the very fact that drones have appeared in the skies over Moscow has contributed to that,” wrote one pro-war Russian blogger, Mikhail Zvinchuk, who posts under the name Rybar.
The drones, numbering at least eight, came as Russia has been engaged in a particularly sustained aerial assault on Ukraine’s own capital, Kyiv. And while President Vladimir V. Putin blamed Ukraine for what he branded “terrorist activity,” no one was killed in Moscow on Tuesday. The same could not be said for Kyiv, where one person died in the Russian attacks.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Ukraine had not been “directly involved” in the attack but was “happy” to watch the events taking place across the border. A spokesman for its air force, which typically maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity over attacks on Russian soil, declined to comment.
Russian officials and Ukrainian allies alike appeared to be choosing their words carefully in responding to the attack.
