MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – Russia said Ukrainian drones struck Moscow on Tuesday but were neutralized, in what one politician described as the worst attack on the capital since World War Two, while Kiev was also hit by air strikes for the third time in the region. 24 hours.
Since Russia sent troops to its neighbor in February last year, the war has been fought largely inside Ukraine, although Moscow has reported some attacks on its soil and said one of them was an assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the early morning drone attack left two people injured, while some residents were briefly evacuated in two apartment buildings that sustained minor damage.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said eight drones sent by Kiev were shot down or diverted, although Baza, a Telegram channel with links to the security services, said more than 25 were involved.
Residents said they heard a loud bang, followed by the smell of petrol. Some filmed a drone being shot down and a plume of smoke rising over the Moscow skyline.
MP Maxim Ivanov called the attack the most serious attack on Moscow since the Nazis, saying no citizen could now avoid the “new reality”. And he said: “Either you will defeat the enemy with one fist with our Fatherland, or the indelible shame of cowardice, cooperation and betrayal will swallow your family.”
Two weeks ago, two drones exploded over the Kremlin in an attack that Russia blamed on Kiev and said was aimed at Putin.
Ukraine’s presidential aide Mykhailo Podolak denied that Kiev was directly involved in targeting Moscow on Tuesday, though he said “we are happy to observe” and expected more to come.
In a chaotic stalemate for most of 2023 with Russian forces occupying some eastern Ukrainian regions, the war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted millions, reduced cities to rubble, and wreaked havoc on the global economy.
KYIV HIGH-RISE HIT
In Kiev, Ukraine’s defense forces said they shot down more than 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones on Tuesday.
[1/6] A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment building following a drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
Ukrainian officials say one person was killed and four injured when debris from a destroyed Russian shell hit a high-rise apartment building, causing a fire. Two upper floors were destroyed, with people possibly still under the rubble.
Pictures of Kiev officials and Reuters reporters showed flames engulfing the upper part of the building. “The attack was massive, it came from different directions, and in several waves,” said Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kiev military department.
Russia attacked Kiev 17 times in May with drones or missiles, mostly at night, in an apparent attempt to undermine Ukrainians’ will to fight after more than 15 months of war.
“These missile attacks with a relatively intense frequency are aimed precisely at exhausting our air defense forces, our physical and moral strength,” said Natalya Gomenyuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Military Command.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Patriot anti-missile defenses provided by the United States achieve a 100% interception rate.
“Terrorism will be defeated,” he said in his Monday night address.
Ukraine promises a counter-offensive backed by Western weaponry to try to dislodge Russian occupiers from captured territories since Moscow launched its own “military operation”.
On the eastern front lines, Russian paratroops and mechanized units have been replacing Wagner mercenary units in the city of Bakhmut, which has been the main focus of fighting for months, according to a Ukrainian military representative.
Moscow said it invaded Ukraine to “discredit” its neighbor and protect Russian speakers. Western opponents say the invasion is an imperial land grab.
Moscow says it is open to resuming stalled peace talks with Kiev and has welcomed mediation efforts from Brazil and China.
But Kiev insists that a full withdrawal of Russian forces is the only way to end the war.
(Reporting by Jay Faulconbridge, Max Honder, Olina Harmash, Pavel Politiuk, and Lydia Kelly; Writing by Stephen Coates and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Michael Berry and Giles Elgood
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
