- Three Ukrainian Drones Shot Down Over Moscow in “Terrorist Attack Attempt”
- Moscow Blames Kyiv for Drone Attacks on Russian Cities
- Vnukovo Airport Temporarily Shut Down, Operations Resume
Three Ukrainian drones were shot down early Sunday morning over Moscow, according to the Russian defense ministry, in an attack that temporarily shut down an international airport.
Two drones “suppressed by electronic warfare” fell into an office building, while one was shot down outside the city. There were no injuries.
Before several drone attacks this year, Moscow and its environs, located approximately 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian frontier, were rarely targeted during the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow blames Kyiv for recent drone strikes on the Kremlin and Russian cities near the Ukrainian border.
The defense ministry termed it a “terrorist attack attempt.”
“On the morning of July 30, the Kyiv regime’s attempt to conduct a terrorist attack using unmanned aerial vehicles against Moscow-based targets was thwarted,” it said on Telegram.
“A Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in flight by air defense systems over the Odintsevo district of the Moscow region.”
“Two more drones were downed by electronic warfare and crashed into a Moscow City non-residential building complex after losing control.”
Moscow metropolis is a commercial district to the west of the metropolis.
Sergei Sobyanin, the city’s mayor, revealed on Telegram that two municipal office towers’ exteriors incurred minimal damage.
He added that “no one was hurt or killed.”
Airport temporarily closed
TASS reports that Vnukovo airport in Moscow is closed for departures and arrivals and flights are being redirected.
Within less than an hour, it appeared that operations had returned to normal. Drone attacks at the same airport southwest of the city hampered air travel earlier this month.
The assaults on Moscow occur several weeks into a Ukrainian counteroffensive to recapture territory seized by Russia since the outbreak of large-scale hostilities in February 2022.
Such attacks, according to the Russian foreign ministry, “would not be possible without the assistance provided to the Kyiv regime by the United States and its NATO allies.”
Russia announced on Friday that it had intercepted two missiles over its southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine, causing at least 16 injuries in the city of Taganrog.
Later, it said it had shot down a second S-200 missile near Azov, with debris landing in an unpopulated region.
Local authorities also reported that a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, killed two people on Saturday.
According to the Ukrainian national police, at least one civilian was slain in a missile attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, and five others were injured.
According to Suspilne, the building was devastated by an explosion at approximately 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).
In early July, a Russian drone assault on an apartment tower in the same city killed three and injured 21.
