Moscow was the target of a drone attack on the morning of Tuesday, June 30. The Russian Ministry of Defense denounces a “terrorist attack” carried out by Ukraine. The attack caused no casualties.
[Mis à jour le 30 mai 2023 à 8h58] Rarely targeted since the start of the war in Ukraine, the city of Moscow has been targeted. This Tuesday, May 30, 2023 “a drone attack caused minor damage to several buildings” in the Russian capital, said Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on a Telegram loop. The Russian Ministry of Defense accuses the kyiv government of being the author of the “terrorist attack” against Moscow.
“Several drones have been shot down” by Russian anti-aircraft defense Governor Andrei Vorobio said this morning. While according to various Russian sources, including Telegram accounts, between four and ten drones flew over Russian skies, the Ministry of Defense counted eight unmanned aircraft, reports AFP. These air weapons did not cause any death according to Sergei Sobyanin: “So far, no one has been seriously injured. […] Two people consulted a doctor. No one needed to be hospitalized, the necessary assistance was provided on the spot.”
[ RUSSIE ]
Drones were shot down near Moscow. According to Russian authorities, several residential buildings were hit, causing minor damage. No one was reportedly injured. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed pic.twitter.com/3SmTzro86x
— (Little) Think Tank (@L_ThinkTank) May 30, 2023
While the drone attack on Moscow did not cause any deaths, “all the city’s emergency services are on site” as a safety measure and a building in the south of the city, near the area where a drone hit was shot was evacuated. Footage of the drones slicing through the skies above Moscow has been broadcast on the networks showing the devices in flight, their destruction and the rare material damage such as a shattered building window. According to Moscow, kyiv is behind this attack and if nothing is confirmed yet Ukraine may well have thought of a response after having suffered several drone attacks in recent weeks.
The moment of the destruction of one of the drones on the approach to Moscow
Sobyanin: Early this morning, following a UAV attack, minor damage occurred to several buildings. All of the city’s emergency services are at the scene of the incidents. They discover pic.twitter.com/zQ8l66vLys
— Brainless Partisans (@BPartisans) May 30, 2023
Ukrainian drone attack in response
Moscow and its region, located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine, have recently become targets in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The May 30 attack is the second after a previous assault also carried out with drones over the Kremlin in early May. The strikes are therefore much less numerous than those carried out on kyiv. The Ukrainian capital has been attacked sixteen times by drones since the beginning of May.
The last two attacks date back to Monday, May 29, at night and then during the day according to the authorities. The mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko described a “massive attack” coming from Russia which made several victims: “One person died, an old lady was hospitalized, two victims were treated on the spot”. This latest drone attack is the third in a row in three days.
Drones at the heart of Moscow’s new strategy?
By becoming the target of air attacks of the same ilk as those it orders on kyiv, the city of Moscow could suffer the first consequences of its possible new military tactic. Russia launched ‘biggest drone attack’ on Ukraine in May, observes colonel and consultant for BFM TV Michel Goya, who considers the Ukrainian response “imminent”. This Russian strategy would aim to weaken the stocks of Ukrainian ammunition capable of destroying adversary missiles according to General Jérôme Pellistrandi interviewed by the news channel continuously. For her part, Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian journalist and essayist at Crisis Media Center thinks that Moscow’s objective is to “postpone the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive”.
The use of drones could also reflect the weakening of the Russian arsenal. These latest attacks appear to show the Russians “don’t have many missiles left”, after carrying out daily strikes for months according to Michel Goya. And the specialist to add, always on BFM TVthat the Russians “lack strike capabilities”.