Moscow targeted by drone attack, no casualties

Moscow was targeted by a drone attack on Tuesday morning causing “minor” damage to buildings, the city’s mayor said.

“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,” Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Russia’s defense ministry blamed Ukraine for a “terrorist attack,” saying it had intercepted all of the eight drones aimed at Moscow.

Moscow, located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine, has 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, AFP reported.

Images posted on social media showed traces of smoke in the sky. Others showed a broken window.

The attack follows a similar assault on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, carried out by Russian drones overnight and leaving at least one person dead, according to the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Russian forces fired missiles at Kyiv on Monday, sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes.

In early May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin in an attack blamed on Ukraine.

Ukraine on Tuesday said it had downed 29 out of 31 drones, mainly over Kyiv and the Kyiv region, in the latest Russian barrage, the third in 24 hours.