Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of encouraging Ukraine by “publicly ignoring the drone attack that struck several districts of Moscow.” However, the White House said it did not support attacks inside of Russia and that it was still gathering information on the incident, which Putin called an attempt to scare and provoke Moscow. “What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they are ‘gathering information’?” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, said in remarks published on the Telegram messaging channel. “This is an encouragement for Ukrainian terrorists,” he stated.
Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “terrorist activity” after Moscow on Tuesday was hit with a drone attack for the first time since the war in the besieged country began.
The Russian president accused Ukraine, which has denied any involvement in the drone attack, of choosing the path of attempting “to intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings”.
Two people sought medical assistance following the drone attack on the Russian capital, which president Putin has claimed was aimed at “civilian tragets”, but none were seriously injured, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Moscow blamed Ukraine for the attack, which came after Russian air strikes hit Kyiv overnight in the third attack on the Ukrainian capital in 24 hours, which killed one person and injured 11. Meanwhile, Ukraine has denied responsibility and threatened retaliation. However, a Ukrainian presidential aide denied Kyiv was directly involved in the drone attack on Moscow, but said Ukraine was enjoying watching events and forecast more to come, reported Reuters.
According to The Guardian, in videos shared on social media one low-flying drone exploding in a field just outside Moscow could be seen, several others flying over houses in the city’s Rublyovka district and tower flats. Another video from Moscow’s outskirts showed a Pantsir surface-to-air missile system firing at a target nearby.
The Russian defence ministry stated that eight drones targeted the city overnight but Russian media close to the security services said that there were over 30 drones participating in the attack.
“I woke up at 6:15 from a loud explosion, and then for the next 45 minutes there were around six other booms every 10 minutes or so,” a security guard told the Guardian. He was based in the elite gated community in Zhukovka, near where the strikes took place.
Alexander Khinshtein, a prominent member of Russia’s parliament, wrote on his Telegram channel that drones were shot down in five different areas in the Moscow region. Putin praised Moscow’s air defences and said Kyiv was trying to scare Russians by striking civilian targets. Putin also claimed that Russian forces were only striking military facilities in Ukraine using “high-precision weapons”.