Moscow has once again been struck by a Ukrainian drone, after an explosion rocked the centre of the city at 4am on Friday morning.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed its air defenses had taken the drone down but not before it flew unhindered right into the heart of the Russian capital.
“The UAV, after being exposed to air defence weapons, changed its flight path and fell on a non-residential building in the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment area of Moscow,” the ministry said on Telegram.
Ukraine is deliberately targeting drones at Moscow City as it is the symbol of the prosperity “Putin’s regime” has allegedly brought to Russia, a Kyiv official told Kyiv Post on Friday.
Moscow’s mayor said emergency services were on the scene, but that early reports indicated there were no casualties.
“The wreckage of the UAV fell in the area of the Expo Centre, and did not cause significant damage to the building,” Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
State-run news agency TASS reported that one of the walls of the venue’s pavilion had partially collapsed, citing emergency services.
“The area of the collapse is about 30 square meters (323 square feet),” emergency services told TASS.
TASS also reported that the airspace near the international airport of Vnukovo was briefly closed, with departures and arrivals delayed, citing the aviation service.
The expo centre, on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment of the Moskva River, hosts regular exhibitions and trade shows, according to its website.
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The venue is 100 metres (328 feet) from Moscow City, an office block in the capital’s main business district that was struck twice within days by debris from downed drone strikes this month.
Wall Street Journal journalist, Yaroslav Trofimov, posted a video on social media with the heading: “Another day, another drone strike on Moscow. The unthinkable has become routine.”
Later on Friday, parts of Moscow City were evacuated due to reports of more drones heading for the capital.
Ukraine has yet to take responsibility for the attack but earlier this month, Kyiv warned those living in Moscow to expect more attacks, adding the Russian capital’s air defenses appear incapable of protecting its citizens as the drone war between the two countries continues to escalate.
After a dramatic increase in Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks, Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), told Kyiv Post, that the “the concept of security is increasingly distant from the residents of Moscow.”
Ukraine’s drones have been regularly reaching the capital and causing damage though in relatively small numbers compared to Russia’s mass attacks.
Yusov however, suggested this could change, saying: “Given the dynamics of recent months, the number, geography and intensity, it would be logical to assume an increase in daily attacks.”
Russia also said on Thursday morning it thwarted a Ukrainian marine drone attack on its warships in the Black Sea, the latest in a string of assaults on its fleet in the flashpoint waterway.
“Today at 22.55 (1955 GMT), the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the ships of the Black Sea Fleet with an unmanned sea boat,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The ships were performing the tasks of controlling navigation in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, 237 km (147 miles) southwest of Sevastopol.”
Sevastopol is the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
The ministry said the drone was destroyed by the Pytlivyi and Vasily Bykov patrol ships before it could reach its target.
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