Moscow Hit By Drone Attack, Buildings Damaged

Moscow was targeted by a drone attack early on Tuesday morning causing “minor” damage to several buildings but no casualties, according to the city’s mayor.

“This morning, at dawn, a drone attack caused minor damage to several buildings. All the city’s emergency services are on the scene... No one has been seriously injured so far,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

Images posted on social media showed traces of smoke in the Moscow sky and the broken window of a building in the city.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, claimed several drones had also been intercepted on their approach to the Russian capital.

"This morning, the residents of certain districts in the Moscow region could hear explosions, it was our anti-air missile defence system," he wrote.

"Several drones were shot down while approaching Moscow," he added, urging residents to keep calm and adding that "all rescue services are doing their work".

Sobyanin said the residents of two buildings damaged in Tuesday's strikes had been evacuated and added that they "can return to their apartments once the special services have finished their work".

Residents told Russian journalists that a drone had entered an apartment on the 14th floor but did not explode.

"There was no blast. The police came and knocked on the door and asked all people to leave," a resident told state news agency RIA Novosti.

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It is not currently known who is behind the attack but Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine on Tuesday of a "terrorist attack", saying it had intercepted all of the eight Ukrainian drones aimed at Moscow.

"This morning the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack with drones on targets in the city of Moscow. Eight drones were used in the attack. All of the enemy drones were downed," the ministry said on social media.

Moscow, located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Ukraine, has only rarely been targeted by drone attacks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, even though such attacks have become more common elsewhere in Russia.

The attack on Moscow came shortly after yet another Russian assault on Kyiv, which killed at least one person and injured several others.

Debris from intercepted drones fell in several residential areas of the city with one multi-story building evacuated after being set ablaze.

“One person died, three were injured. The two upper floors are destroyed, there may be people under the rubble,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

It was the third such attack on Kyiv in 24 hours.