Russia says it downed 3 drones outside Moscow, suspects it was attack by Ukraine
The governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov said on Wednesday that two drones were shot down outside Moscow as they approached the warehouse of a local army unit, in what could be the latest attempt by the Russian military. Ukraine aimed to strike targets inside Russia during the early stages of Kiev’s most recent counteroffensive.
They went down near the village of Lukino, administratively part of the city of Moscow, Russian media reported. Debris from the third drone is believed to have been found about 20 kilometers away. No damage or casualties have been reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared this was “an unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist attack” by the “Kiev regime” against its facilities in the Moscow region, adding that all three machines drones were all brought down due to electronic jamming.
Ukraine, which usually does not confirm attacks on Russian soil, did not immediately comment on the downed drones. Earlier, Ukrainian officials had emphasized that the country had the right to strike any target in response to Russia’s invasion and war starting in February 2022.
In December, Moscow announced it had shot down drones targeting air bases in the Saratov and Ryazan regions in western Russia.
Other drones are said to have flown deep into Russian territory several times. Since February, when a UJ-22 crashed 100 kilometers from Moscow, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly approached the Russian capital.
Last month, a drone strike that rocked the Russian capital, although it caused only minor damage, appeared to be one of Kiev’s deepest and boldest attacks on Russia. . This was the second reported attack on Moscow that month after Russian authorities said two drones targeted the Kremlin.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s air defenses “work well,” but added that “it’s clear what we need to do to close the hole” in the system.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, confirming Wednesday’s drone attack, said only that “vehicles against the drones did their job.”
Meanwhile, rail traffic was disrupted on the Crimean Peninsula on Wednesday, according to Russian governor Sergei Aksyonov.
Aksyonov did not say what caused the disruption, but some Russian media reported that railway lines were blown up overnight in apparent sabotage operations. The railway lines through Crimea are important for supplying Russian forces on the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considers illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country aims to regain the peninsula in a counter-offensive that has begun in recent weeks.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, in response to the military threat of Ukraine using advanced weapons supplied by its Western allies, Russia has in recent weeks devoted “considerable effort” to assembling the equipment. “elaborate” defense lines on the approaches to Crimea, according to the British Ministry of Defense.
For the Kremlin, securing control of Crimea is a “top political priority,” the ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday. “Heavy fighting” is taking place in several regions of southern Ukraine, where Kiev’s forces are testing Russian defenses, it added.
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