A drone hit a tower in a Moscow business district, the Russian capital’s mayor said early Tuesday, adding that several of the drones were shot down by air defense. “Several drones were shot down by air defense systems as they attempted to head towards Moscow. One hit the same (Moscow) City tower as last time,” Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
“The facade at the level of the 21st floor was damaged, the windows were broken on an area of ??150 m². There is no information about any casualties,” Sergei Sobyanin added, explaining that emergency services are on site. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, debris from the craft was found and will be examined.
Two other drones were destroyed by air defense over the territory of Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts in the Moscow region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport was temporarily closed before returning to normal operation, state news agency TASS said, citing emergency services. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, several windows of two buildings in the business district of “Moscow City”, the most important in the Russian capital, had been blown out after an attack by Ukrainian drones, reported the elected official.
The Russian army said on Tuesday that it had repelled overnight an attack by three Ukrainian naval drones against its patrol boats in the Black Sea, at the heart of heightened tensions between Kiev and Moscow since Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement mid- July. “The enemy’s three naval drones were destroyed” by open fire from Russian ships, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that the patrol boats were attacked 340 km southwest of Sevastopol, port base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea.
Naval drones are boats that operate on the surface of the water, without a crew, controlled remotely. Moscow regularly accuses the Ukrainian army of using these devices, in addition to aerial drones, to attack targets in the Black Sea.
Last week, the Russian army had already claimed to have repelled an attack by two Ukrainian naval drones against the Sergei Kotov in the Black Sea. On July 17, Ukraine also claimed responsibility for an attack with naval drones on the Kerch Bridge, a vital infrastructure linking Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The Black Sea is at the center of heightened tensions following Russia’s exit last week from an international deal over Ukrainian grain exports. Moscow and kyiv have alternately warned ships sailing the Black Sea, warning they could be targeted if they headed for enemy ports.
Without mentioning this attack, Kiev having the habit of not claiming its possible operations carried out in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted on Sunday that the “war” is happening “on the territory of Russia, in its symbolic centers and its military bases “.
