Ukraine drone strikes Moscow, shutting down Russian airspace and damaging buildings close to the Kremlin
- Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow early on Sunday but there were no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, according to the TASS news agency
- The facades of two office buildings in the Moscow City were slightly damaged
- Two drones were involved in the attack and were subsequently shot down west of Moscow Region
Drones attacked Moscow elite office and residential skyscraper district early today causing damage to at least two buildings.
Screams were heard as explosions ripped apart the several floors of a major building.
The suspected Ukrainian attack inflicted the kind of terror on Moscow that Vladimir Putin’s armed forces have imposed on Kyiv and other Ukrainians cities during the war.
The first of two drones penetrating the Russian capital’s much-vaunted air-defenses struck at 3:20am.
It hit the 50-storey IQ Quarter Tower, part of a business district called Moscow City that also includes elite residential apartments and penthouses.
The explosion was captured on camera in the early hours of Sunday morning
Investigators examine a damaged skyscraper in the ‘Moscow City’ business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early on Sunday
A view of the damaged building in the ‘Moscow City’ business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow
A view of the damaged skyscraper is shown in the ‘Moscow City’ business district
There was a report of two victims injured – a security guard and a 21 -year old woman – but multiple ambulances were at the scene.
The attack reached the heart of Moscow, close to the White House headquarters of the Russian government.
One of the buildings struck by the drones houses the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The office of the Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media is also based here, part of Putin’s propaganda edifice.
Government documentation from the ministries was strewn in the street after the attack.
The attacks came as Putin prepared to mark Russian Navy Day in St Petersburg and Kronstadt today along with leaders of countries attending a Russian-African summit.
One video highlights the voices of two women seeing an incoming drone.
‘There it is flying,’ says one.
‘It flies so quick.’
Another video has two more women on Presnenskaya Embankment, one saying: ‘I told you…’
One screams: ‘Ah! Mamochka! [Mummy…]
‘Right next to us a drone hit a building.
‘I filmed it.’
Guests at a Novotel hotel at Moscow City were panicked by the attack.
Another shows a woman in bed as the drone attack is seen from her high-rise window.
Russian authorities say three Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow in the early hours on Sunday, injuring one person and prompting a temporary closure for air traffic of one of four airports
A view shows the damaged facade of an office building in the Moscow
Emergencies services members gather outside the damaged office
It was the fourth such attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and third this week
A view of the damaged skyscraper is shown. The attack has fueled concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month
Flights were temporarily halted at major Moscow international airport Vnukovo, used by Putin and members of the Russian government, due to the drone strikes.
A source said: ‘Vnukovo airport is closed for arrivals and departures.
‘Flights are being redirected to other airports. One flight is in the waiting area.’
Later the airport was reopened.
Air defences were working in the Odintsovo district.
There were also reports of an intense drone attack on annexed Crimea.
The Russian Defence Ministry said: ‘On the morning of July 30, an attempt of a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime with unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the city of Moscow was suppressed.
‘One Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the air by air defence over the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region.
‘Two more drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and, having lost control, crashed on the territory of the Moscow City non-residential building complex.’
It was portrayed as an ‘attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime’.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainians.
Moscow routinely downplays attacks by Ukraine in an attempt not to alarm people.
A source said: ‘The glazing was shattered as a result of the blast at the level of fifth and sixth floors of the 50-story building on Presnenskaya embankment.’
TASS reported: ‘There are no casualties and no fire has started.
‘The people are being evacuated. Operational services and law enforcement agencies arrived on the scene.
‘Law enforcement agencies reported that the Air Defence Troops repelled an attack by two aircraft-type drones in the west of Moscow Region.
‘In addition, eyewitnesses report the sounds of an explosion in the west of Moscow.’
In Crimea, the defence ministry claimed that 25 drones had been repelled.
The defence ministry said: ‘Tonight an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by twenty-five aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on facilities on the territory of the Crimean peninsula has been foiled.
‘Sixteen Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by air defence fire.
‘Another nine Ukrainian drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed in the waters of the Black Sea and Cape Tarkhankut without reaching their target.
‘There were no casualties or damage as a result of the foiled terrorist attack.’
Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor
An investigator examines an area next to the damaged skyscraper
Russian law enforcement officers and emergencies ministry members work at an accident scene near the damaged office building in the Moscow
The Russian Defense Ministry referred to the incident as an ‘attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime’ and said three drones targeted the city
Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor
Two more drones struck the Russian capital on Monday, one of them falling in the center of the city near the Defense Ministry’s headquarters along the Moscow River about 2 miles from the Kremlin.
The other drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors.
In another attack on July 4, the Russian military said four drones were downed by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and a fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.
Russia said on Monday it would retaliate harshly against Ukraine after two drones damaged buildings in Moscow, with one strike close to the building where the military holds briefings on what Russia calls its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said at the time there would be more drone strikes.
Source: Read Full Article
