- On Monday, two drones attacked multiple buildings in Moscow, causing minor damage but no casualties.
- Russia’s defense ministry blamed Ukraine for thwarting the apparent attack.
- This is Putin’s latest example of the distant war in Ukraine returning to Russia.
Two drones attacked a non-residential building in Moscow on Monday, causing relatively minimal damage and no casualties reported. Once again, it seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war is back.
The attack, reportedly carried out by Kiev, came after Russia launched a relentless strike on southern Ukraine with drones and missiles, increasingly targeting the country’s grain infrastructure. But at the same time, it reminded the Russian public that despite the Kremlin’s attempts to limit the exposure of ordinary people to violence and fighting, the conflict is not far off.
Russia’s defense ministry blamed Ukraine for an attack on Moscow early Monday morning and said it had “stopped” it. “Two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were overwhelmed by electronic warfare and crashed,” the Telegram statement said.
Debris from a drone was found in a building along a busy road near central Moscow, according to details released by Russian state media. Tas. Photos from the scene show damage to the roof of an unidentified building just a few hundred meters from the Russian Defense Ministry headquarters in the capital.
A second drone crashed into the top of a business tower in the south of the city, according to TASS. Photos showed windows on the 17th and 18th floors shattered, and the second floor completely destroyed from the outside.Ukrainian intelligence officials later Confirmed It told CNN on Monday that Kiev was behind the attack, but it was not immediately clear what exactly the two drones were targeting before they were neutralized.
A view of buildings after two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were attacked on July 24, 2023 in Moscow, Russia.
Photo credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency, Getty Images
Kiev has not yet officially acknowledged the presence of the drones, but some officials said it was justifiable to use the opportunity to attack Russia.
“The boomerang always comes back to the person who threw it, even if they believe themselves to be impunity, they hide in hiding in special organization hideouts thousands of kilometers from the front lines where they operate. I have written on Twitter.
“What are the mysterious ‘drones’ over Moscow saying?” he continued. “1. Evil does not go unpunished. 2. No one has promised Russia silence. And after 17 months of full-scale war, the aggressor will always get justified retribution. 3. And above all… about a full awareness of where Russia’s ‘secret services’ are.”
The Moscow region has been repeatedly targeted by drones over the past few months, most recently with several systems being hit earlier this month. shoot down by the Russian air defense network. While Ukraine has so far successfully targeted bases within Russia’s internationally recognized borders far behind its front lines, the series of attacks on Moscow appears to underscore Kiev’s ability to bring the war even closer to the country.
These incidents seem to indicate that the Ukrainian war is not as far from Moscow as previously thought.
Putin has often gone to great lengths to downplay or outright deny certain aspects of the 17-month-long war in Ukraine, rarely acknowledging its setbacks and shortcomings on the battlefield. The Kremlin also crack down It focuses on the Russian people’s exposure to conflict while keeping the elements of neighboring conflicts largely out of sight.
Following a reported drone attack in Moscow on July 24, 2023, police secured an area outside a damaged non-residential building on Komsomolsky Boulevard.
Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
But the effects of the ongoing war continue to target the Russian capital, not all of it in Ukraine.
For example, due to persistent feuds between the Wagner Group and the Russian military leadership, mercenaries invaded Russia last month in an armed rebellion and nearly marched to Moscow before the chaotic uprising was abruptly called off.
However, Ukraine appears to have been involved in most of the drone incidents in Russia. U.S. officials have previously said the Biden administration did not encourage cross-border attacks on Ukraine, fearing an unfair escalation by Russia. This is the same argument put forward by the White House when it refused to deploy much-needed long-range strike capabilities such as ATACMS in Kiev.
But the rhetoric about the attack on Ukraine in Russia has changed somewhat in recent months.
“In general, we do not support attacks inside Russia, but Russia continues to bomb Kiev, many of which are destroying civilian areas, and Russia continues its brutal attacks on the Ukrainian people,” said Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, after the drones flew over Moscow in late May.
“And, importantly, Russia could end this war at any time by withdrawing its troops from Ukraine instead of daily brutal attacks on Ukrainian cities and people, targeting civilian infrastructure and areas,” Patel added.
City officials remove broken glass windows at the site of a reported drone attack on Komsomolsky Boulevard in Moscow on July 24, 2023.
Photo credit: EKATERINA ANISIMOVA/AFP, Getty Images
Meanwhile, Monday’s incident in Moscow came in parallel with another drone strike Russia blamed on Ukraine. The Moscow Defense Ministry claimed that 17 drones targeted Russian installations in occupied Crimea, of which 14 systems were shot down by air defenses, 11 of which were dropped into the Black Sea by “electronic warfare tools.”
Tensions around the Black Sea have risen particularly in the past week after Russia scrapped the crucial Black Sea Grains Agreement, an international brokerage deal that allowed Ukraine to export food from major ports to avert a global hunger crisis. After withdrawing from the pact, the Russian government immediately stepped up its attacks on ports and food storage facilities in southern Ukraine, especially in and around the city of Odesa.
And since then, Russian attacks have been relentless.Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Said On Monday, it was announced that Russian drones had struck grain infrastructure along the Danube, injuring several people and destroying food storage facilities. Photos shared by Kiev on Twitter show several facilities damaged.
“If anyone in Russia wants to turn the Black Sea into a space of arbitrariness and terrorism, it will not succeed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a national address on Friday. “We know how to protect ourselves and we understand that the world is ready to work together in the future and work more proactively to bring peace to the region.”