Russian President Vladimir Putin is speaking out following a drone attack on Moscow, calling the strikes an attempt by Ukraine to “intimidate” his country.
The remarks come after eight drones targeted Russia’s capital early Tuesday before being shot down or diverted with electronic jammers. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings and that two people received treatment for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization. Residents of two high-rise buildings damaged in the attack were evacuated.
“This is clearly a sign of terrorist activity,” Putin said Tuesday, adding that Ukraine has chosen a path of trying “to intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings”.
Putin said Moscow’s air defense “worked in a satisfactory way” but added it was “clear what we need to do to plug the gaps” in the system, The Associated Press reported.
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Russian investigators inspect a building in Moscow following a drone attack on Tuesday, May 30. (AP)
Putin charged that Ukraine launched Tuesday’s attack in response to Russia striking Ukraine’s military intelligence headquarters in Kyiv over the weekend. However, Andrii Cherniak, a Ukrainian intelligence representative, said the Kremlin’s forces failed to hit the building because its missiles were shot down.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said a few of the drones in Tuesday’s incident were “shot down on the approach to Moscow.”
Ukrainian military analysts, though unable to confirm Kyiv had launched the drones against Moscow, told the AP the attack may have involved UJ-22 drones, which are produced in Ukraine and have a maximum range of about 620 miles.
Some of the drone debris hit an area of western Moscow where Putin has a residence, according to Reuters.
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Police officers guard an area where a drone damaged an apartment building in Moscow. (AP)
Residents in Moscow also reported hearing loud bangs followed by the smell of fuel, the news agency added.
The drone strikes happened on the same day that Russia launched a pre-dawn raid on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv.
In that attack, at least 20 Shahed explosive drones were struck down by air defense forces in Kyiv’s airspace, according to the Kyiv Military Administration via The Associated Press.
One person was reported killed and seven were injured.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, shown here leading a cabinet meeting via videoconference in Moscow on Wednesday, is blaming the drone strikes on Ukraine. (AP)
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A high-rise building in the Holosiiv district caught fire after being hit by debris from drones or interceptor missiles, the Kyiv Military Administration reported. The building’s upper two floors were destroyed, causing over 20 people to be evacuated and raising concerns that more could be trapped under the rubble.
Falling debris also caused a fire in a private house in the Darnytskyi district and three cars were set ablaze in the Pechersky district, according to the military administration.
Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
