The city of Moscow was subject to a drone attack on Tuesday morning: according to initial information, between six and seven in the morning local time various explosions were heard in the city and at least two buildings were hit, causing minor damage. At the moment there are no reports of dead or wounded among the population and it is not possible to indicate with certainty who carried out the attack.
It is the second drone attack on the Russian capital since the beginning of May: in the night between 2 and 3 May two drones had attempted to hit the Kremlin, i.e. the set of buildings in the center of Moscow where, among other things, the residence is located official of President Vladimir Putin and the seat of various institutions of the Russian state. Russia then called the attack an attempt to assassinate the Russian president.
Tuesday’s attack instead involved two less central buildings in the capital: other drones, the number of which is not specified at the moment, were shot down by Russian anti-aircraft fire. According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the two affected buildings, both residential, would be one in Profsoyuznaya 98 street, the other in Atlasova street, in the administrative district of Novomoskovsk. From official statements and videos that have emerged, the damage appears to be limited to the facade and some windows, but the residents have been temporarily evacuated.
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) May 30, 2023
According to other testimonies, a third drone may have hit a building on Leninsky Prospekt: the inhabitants went out into the street and some ambulances and fire trucks arrived on the spot. The attack on Moscow was confirmed by the mayor of the city Sergei Sobyanin in a post on Telegram. Sobyanin called the damage “insignificant” and reassured the population, inviting them to share only certain news. The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, instead confirmed the downing of other drones that were approaching the capital.
There are currently no official reactions from the Ukrainian government or military to the attack on Moscow. According to US intelligence sources, the previous attempted attack on the Kremlin may have been a covert operation by Ukraine.
Before dawn, however, the Ukrainian capital Kiev suffered a new attack by Russian drones, in which at least one person was killed: it is the third consecutive night that the Ukrainian capital is attacked, with residents forced to seek shelter in shelters anti-aircraft. Tuesday is also the 17th Russian attack on Kiev since early May: according to the Ukrainian army, the Iranian-made drones involved in the operation would have been 31, and the defense forces would have destroyed 29 of them before they reached their objectives.
Photos showing the aftermath of the attack on #Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/yyd87CTPnP
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 30, 2023