- Russia Accuses Ukraine of Drone Attack on Moscow
- Drone Strike Hits Moscow’s Expo Centre
- Escalation of Drone Attacks in Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Russia claims that its air defenses fired down the drone over Moscow, and has accused Ukraine of targeting the capital.
Russia accused Ukraine of attempting a drone strike after a drone crashed into a building and produced a “powerful explosion”.
Early on Friday morning, it struck the Expo Centre complex in central Moscow, which stages conventions and conferences.
Russia’s defense ministry and city mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that there were no casualties after air defenses shot down an unmanned drone that then crashed into a structure located approximately five kilometers from the Kremlin.
Social media footage purportedly captures the instant when drone debris struck the building.
Following a minor explosion, smoke begins to billow from the structure.
The video, which originated from the pro-Kremlin Mash Telegram channel, was posted by Ukrainian interior ministry counsel Anton Gerashchenko on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Images depicted armed police safeguarding the site and investigators conducting their work near the damaged structure.
A witness in the vicinity reported hearing “a powerful explosion.”
“At approximately 4:00 a.m. Moscow time, the Kyiv regime launched another terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle against targets in Moscow and the region surrounding Moscow,” the Russian defense ministry stated.
Kyiv provided no immediate comment.
The four main airports surrounding the capital, Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky, temporarily suspended flights before resuming operations.
Since a drone was shot down over the Kremlin in May, drone attacks deep within Russia have increased.
Ukraine and Russia have both denied using civilians as targets during the conflict.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged kidnappings of children during the conflict, and Ukraine alleges that his forces committed war crimes during the invasion.
Increase in Ukrainian attacks as Russia targets foodstuffs
Russia’s defence ministry announced a separate Black Sea fleet attack hours before the drone strike.
The ministry reported that two Russian warships repelled an attack by an unmanned Ukrainian vessel near Crimea last night.
The Ukrainian vessel was purportedly destroyed by gunfire from the Russian patrol ships Pytlivy and Vasili Bykov.
In Odesa, southern Ukraine, officials have accused Russia of restarting agricultural infrastructure attacks.
Drones were used in overnight attacks on grain storage facilities and ports along the Danube River, which Ukraine increasingly uses to transport grain to Europe since Moscow terminated a crucial wartime export agreement via the Black Sea.
Oleh Kiper, the administrator of Odesa, stated that air defenses intercepted thirteen drones.
At the same time, a container ship that had been at the port of Odesa since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year set sail and was en route to the Bosphorus via the Black Sea, and a temporary corridor was established by Ukraine.
Washington permitted Denmark and the Netherlands to transfer modern F-16 warplanes to Ukraine following pilot training.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to his Danish and Dutch counterparts that “it remains essential that Ukraine can defend itself against Russia’s ongoing aggression and violation of its sovereignty.
