A swarm of drones hit Moscow on Tuesday in an unprecedented attack and Russian drones struck Kyiv for a third straight day as Ukraine gears up for a major offensive against Russian forces.
The Russian defense ministry blamed Kyiv for the attacks on Moscow and the surrounding region, which left two people lightly injured and what it said was “minor” damage to buildings.
Two residential buildings that were hit are located in the affluent south-western part of the Russian capital and near the city center. One of them is close to a popular park.
Two drones were intercepted over the Kremlin earlier this month, but this was the first time that unmanned aerial vehicles hit residential areas of Moscow, which is located hundreds of kilometers from the front lines in Ukraine.
The raids will be seen as a psychological blow and a major embarrassment for the Kremlin, which has gone to great lengths to say the protracted conflict does not pose a threat to Russians.
The Russian defense ministry said that eight drones were used in the attack.
The ministry said in a statement on social media that “all the enemy drones” were either downed or disabled.
Moscow and regional authorities confirmed the attack.
The city’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin said two people had sought medical assistance after the raid, but “no one has suffered serious injuries.”
Explosions
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said several drones had also been downed near the capital.
“This morning, the residents of certain districts in the Moscow region could hear explosions, it was our anti-air missile defence system,” he wrote.
“Several drones were shot down while approaching Moscow,” he added, urging residents to keep calm and adding that “all rescue services are doing their work.”
Since the start of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, drone attacks have hit targets outside Moscow, including military installations located far from the front.
Sobyanin said the residents of two buildings damaged in Tuesday’s strikes had been evacuated and added that they “can return to their apartments once the special services have finished their work.”
Residents told Russian journalists that a drone had entered an apartment on the 14th floor but did not explode.
“There was no blast. The police came and knocked on the door and asked all people to leave,” a resident told state news agency RIA Novosti.
Also on Tuesday, Ukraine said it had downed 29 out of 31 drones, mainly over Kyiv and the Kyiv region in the latest Russian barrage — the third on the capital in 24 hours.
On Monday, Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv, sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes.
The latest barrages landed as the Ukrainian capital was still recovering from an overnight Saturday drone attack, the biggest since Russia began its campaign in Ukraine in February last year.
Kyiv received its first shipments of the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system in April, and US President Joe Biden on Monday suggested more aid was to come.
Asked about Russia’s fierce attacks on Kyiv, Biden told reporters, “It’s not unexpected,” adding: “That’s why we’ve got to continue to give Ukraine all that it needs.”
Kyiv has been preparing an offensive, although its timing and focus have been the subject of months of speculation.