Russia destroys drones targeting Moscow and blames Ukraine

Russian authorities said they destroyed two attack drones targeting central Moscow on Monday morning in what they described as an attack by Ukrainian forces. No one was hurt, they said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

At least two non-residential buildings were targeted around 4 a.m. local time, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram account, adding that there was no "serious damage or casualties". The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that it used electronic defenses to disable the drones.

Authorities blocked off part of Komsomolsky Prospect, an avenue that runs through one of central Moscow's most upscale neighborhoods, after finding one of the drones there, state media reported. One of the buildings is about a block from the Russian National Defense Management Center, a towering structure that is used to conduct "centralized combat management of the Russian Armed Forces," according to the Defense Ministry website. ="media" role="group" data-testid="VideoBlock">VideoAttack on Moscow buildings shut down traffic on at least two large avenues, according to state media.CreditCredit...Reuters

Smoke billowed from the upper floors of a high-rise building housing French home improvement chain Leroy Merlin. Other images show damage to several structures along Komsomolsky Prospect - which is close to the Ministry of Defense - including the building of the Military University and the Central Military Band, a performance band of the Russian Armed Forces. It could not be determined from the visuals whether the drones caused the damage.

Also on Monday, Russian occupation authorities in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally seized in 2014, said 11 attack drones were shot down or neutralized by air defenses. An ammunition depot in Dzhankoy district was hit, according to senior Crimean-based Russian official Sergei Aksyonov, although it was not immediately clear whether damage was caused by a drone or by debris from an air defense missile. p>

"You can see that in recent days the intensity of attempts to attack our regions with drones has increased," Peskov said. "Therefore, measures are being taken, very intense daily work is being done around the clock."

Since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, fighting has been concentrated on the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Russia has fired missiles and drones at cities across Ukraine almost daily while Russian cities, including Moscow, have been spared the violence of war. from the border with Ukraine and even further from the front lines.