Russia Dubs Ukraine’s Drone Attack As “Terrorism”

On Monday, a day after Ukraine pledged retaliation for Russian strikes on Odesa, Russia accused Kyiv of “terrorism,” claiming that two Ukrainian drones had destroyed structures in Moscow, including one near the Defence Ministry’s headquarters.

No injuries were recorded, but one of the attack’s targets—a facility in Moscow near which the Russian military gives briefings on its “special military operation”—struck a symbolic blow and demonstrated the reach of such drones.

A Reuters’ reporter who witnessed the aftermath of the incident reported that neighbouring roads were briefly closed, windows on the top two floors of an office building hit by the second drone in another Moscow neighbourhood were blasted out, and debris was thrown on the ground.

The Kremlin declared that the drones had been “neutralised,” but it also threatened to continue operating in Ukraine and achieve all of the objectives of what Ukraine claims is a horrific war of conquest.

Though the attack from drone did not claim lives, however, its target being Kremlin and attacking one of the important buildings suggest its importance in the current context. Before this incident, two drone attacks have taken place in May.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported that a swarm of 17 drones also conducted strikes overnight on Crimea, which Russia acquired from Ukraine in 2014. It also said that it had utilized air defenses and anti-drone weaponry to bring the drones down. The Crimean leader who was appointed by Russia said that a residential structure and an armaments storage had both been hit.

“Today at night drones attacked the capital of ‘the orcs’ and Crimea,” according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. “Electronic warfare and air defence are already less able to defend the skies of the occupiers.”

Fedorov, one of the leaders leading Ukrainian plans to build an “army of drones,” wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “No matter what happens, there will be more of this.”

The two Ukrainian drones were destroyed by radio-electronic equipment, according to the Russian defence ministry, thwarting what it dubbed an attempted “terrorist attack.”

Two non-residential buildings were hit at roughly 4 a.m. (0100 GMT), according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who also said that there were no significant injuries or casualties.

Russian state news organisations cited emergency services when they reported that drone debris had been discovered close to a building on Moscow’s Komsomolsky Avenue. The buildings of the defence ministry are located about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the site.

Nearby are more military structures, some of which are connected to Russia’s GRU military intelligence arm.

According to Russian news media, the roadway and Likhachev Avenue, where a high-rise office block had been damaged, were both temporarily closed to traffic.