2023-07-30 10:14:59
Russia announced on Sunday morning that it had repelled two separate Ukrainian drone attacks overnight, which targeted Moscow, whose international airport was briefly closed, and annexed Crimea, without causing any casualties.
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“Sixteen Ukrainian drones were destroyed by anti-aircraft defense” in Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“Nine other Ukrainian drones were neutralized by electronic warfare means and crashed into the Black Sea,” he added, adding that the attack had no casualties.
Earlier, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced on Telegram that “Ukrainian drones attacked last night. The facades of two office towers in the city were slightly damaged. There are no casualties or injuries.”
The attack of three drones in total was also foiled, one was shot down and the other two “neutralized by electronic warfare”, crashing into a complex of buildings, according to the Russian ministry.
The Russian Ministry of Defense denounced an “attempted terrorist attack”.
Vnukovo International Airport in southwest Moscow was briefly closed to traffic and flights were diverted, Russian news agency TASS said, citing ‘aviation services’, before announcing their resumption a little after.
Attacks on and around Moscow, located nearly 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, were fairly rare from the start of the conflict in February 2022, until several drone incursions occurred in 2023.
Those reported on Sunday are the latest in a series of drone attacks, including one against the Kremlin and Russian towns near the border with Ukraine, which Moscow attributes to Kyiv.
Earlier in July, Russia claimed to have shot down five Ukrainian drones that had previously disrupted the operation of Vnukovo airport.
These attacks come a few weeks after the launch of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, intended to retake the territories occupied by Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the attacks, which “would not be possible without the aid provided to the Kiev regime by the United States and its NATO allies,” he said.
On Friday, the Kremlin said it intercepted two Ukrainian missiles over the southwest of its territory, the debris of the first having injured at least 16 in their fall on the city of Taganrog, near the border with Ukraine.
The border regions have often been the target of drones and shelling since the beginning of the conflict, but very rarely of missiles.
The Russian Ministry of Defense then declared that the first missile, an S-200, targeted “residential infrastructure” in Taganrog, 250,000 inhabitants.
Shortly after, the second S-200 was shot down near Azov, the debris falling this time on an uninhabited area, according to the ministry.
On the Ukrainian side, near the border, the city of Sumy was hit on Saturday evening by a Russian missile. At least one civilian died and five were injured, according to police, who said the attack hit an educational facility.
According to state-run media outlet Suspilne, one of the buildings in the complex was destroyed by the explosion, which occurred at 8 p.m. local time (noon Eastern Time). On images broadcast by Suspilne appear the rubble of this building.
In early July, a Russian drone attack hit an apartment building in Sumy, killing three and injuring 21.
Earlier Saturday, a man and a woman were also killed in a Russian strike, this time in Zaporizhia, the major city in southern Ukraine, local authorities reported.
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