A specialist examines the damaged facade of a multi-storey residential building after a drone attack in Moscow. Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP
A suspected Ukrainian drone fleet hit Moscow's wealthiest neighborhoods on Tuesday in what was the first apparent attack on civilian targets since the start of the war.
At least 13 drones crashed over Russia's capital, and the Kremlin lashed out at what he described as a “terrorist attack.” The Russian Defense Ministry said eight drones attacked Moscow, claiming it shot down five and jammed three.
Vladimir Putin went on television to say that Russian air defense “responded successfully to the attack,” although he acknowledged that “there is work to be done” as the war hit the most heavily defended areas of the city. He did not personally respond to a drone strike on the Kremlin earlier this year and has faced criticism for his silence as the conflict increasingly seeps into Russians' daily lives at home.
In Rublyovka, an area known as Moscow's Beverly Hills, residents were awakened by explosions as more than a dozen drones attacked the area, according to local media reports. Some of them exploded on impact with power lines and collapsed.
The drones were also reportedly shot down over the villages of Romashkovo and Razdory, less than 10km from Vladimir Putin's official residence.
Detail of a Ukrainian drone that reportedly damaged an apartment building in Moscow
One crashed across the river from an upscale neighborhood home to Putin's billionaire friend Arkady Rotenberg and high-ranking Defense Ministry officials.
Another crashed in the posh Greenfield neighborhood, home to the head of Russian gas giant Gazprom. mansion.
Video footage posted online shows a drone flying over French-style houses in Ilyinsky, where Finance Minister Anton Silunov reportedly lives.
The footage was captured on Tuesday work of the Moscow air defense “Shell”, launching missiles to intercept drones.
Not all unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were shot down outside the ring road separating the city from the suburbs, at least three drones crashed into two high-rise buildings in the green southwest of the capital.
One drone flew into the window apartment building on Leninsky Prospekt, where one-bedroom apartments are being sold for around £600,000. The house was evacuated after sappers arrived to defuse three explosive devices, according to Mash.
Russian authorities immediately tried to downplay the spate of drone strikes.
President Putin's spokesman said on Tuesday that the strike caused no damage or civilian casualties, accusing Kiev of attacking in retaliation for “our effective strikes on one of command centers” in Ukraine on Sunday.
“This happened because our country is very large, and there will always be loopholes through which drones can penetrate bypassing air defense facilities,” Verkhovna Rada deputy, former Major General Andrey Kartopolov said on Tuesday.
Andrey Gurulev, an MP from the ruling party, said that Muscovites were more likely to be hit by an electric scooter than by a drone.
But ultra-nationalist commentators such as Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin could not hide their military anger at allowing the infamous hack.
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Investigators are collecting evidence of a drone attack. Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV/REUTERS
“What are you doing, you stinky morons?” This is stated in a statement released by his press service on Monday. “Why the hell did you let these drones get to Moscow? They're flying to Rublyovka to your homes—let your homes burn!”
Others gloated that upper-middle-class Muscovites finally had to face the reality of war.
“A Muscovite has just learned that there is a war going on in this country… Smoothies and scooter rides are cancelled,” Andrei Rudenko, a state television correspondent in Russian-occupied Donetsk, said on his Telegram channel, posting a video of an unidentified young man incredulously explaining how many fire trucks parked outside his house.
The type of drones used in the attack has yet to be officially determined, but Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute, said on Tuesday that Moscow appeared to have been attacked by long-range UAVs carrying explosives. Video footage showed a close resemblance to at least the UJ-22 that Ukraine unveiled in 2021, which resembles a downsized aircraft. The drones have a range of 800 km and can carry up to 20 kg (44 lb) of explosives.
Ukrainian officials denied responsibility for the attack, as is often the case with alleged operations, but were proud that Moscow had been hit. fire. Advisor to the Ukrainian President Mikhail Podolyak joked that the drones that struck Moscow were originally sent to Ukraine by Russia, but made a U-turn on the way. .jpg” /> The Telegram channel has published pictures of one of the drones allegedly flying over Moscow. about the attack in disbelief.
“Today is not a fun day: the loud sounds of explosions woke us up at 6:30 am,” Tycoon Viktor Bondarenko wrote in an Instagram post showing him in a beige leather interior. luxury car. “My wife offered to move to the basement, but suddenly something happens: I would not like to be buried in some basement. Which have not be avoided. The only good news is that the children are in Milan.”
Ballerina Anastasia Volochkova posted on Instagram the story of her spacious living room: “Dear people, I woke up two hours ago from these terrible explosions! We have this military base nearby… What a nightmare! How scary!”
She subsequently deleted the video, recording a new one in which she said that, in her opinion, “we have a strong army that we can rely on.”
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