Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said several buildings in the Russian capital were slightly damaged this morning in a drone attack.
"In the early hours of this morning, a UAV attack caused minor damage to several buildings. No one has been seriously injured. All emergency services in the city are on the scene. Please only trust official sources of information and do not spread unverified information," Sobyanin said.
Residents were evacuated from the two drone-hit buildings, Sobyanin said.
"For safety reasons, during the work of emergency services, measures were taken to evacuate residents of several entrances in two houses that were hit by a UAV. Immediately after the end of the work of special services, residents will be able to return to their apartments," Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
There were no serious injuries as a result of the UAV attack. Two Moscow residents required medical attention but did not need to be hospitalized, Mayor Sobyanin said.
Russian Authorities Reaction to Drone Attack
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine attacked the Russian capital with eight unmanned aerial vehicles early Tuesday, and that all drones were shot down.
The Tuesday drone attack on Moscow was Kiev’s response to Russia’s successful strikes on one of the Ukrainian decision-making centers on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“It is clear that we are talking about the response of the Kiev regime to our very effective strikes on the center, one of the decision-making centers. This strike took place on Sunday,” Peskov told reporters.
The spokesman added it is “necessary to understand” that the drone attack was carried out by the Kiev regime.
Russia reserves the right to take most tough measures after Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said. According to the ministry, the attack “targeted the civilian population to spread panic” among them.
The Russian Investigative Committee said it had initiated a criminal case under the article on terrorist acts after the drone attack on Moscow.
Drones hit two residential buildings in southern Moscow: on Profsoyuznaya Street and Atlasova Street, no one was injured, a spokesman for emergencies services told Sputnik.
"A drone hit the upper floors of a residential building on Profsoyuznaya Street 98. The facade and glazing of the house were destroyed. There were no casualties," the spokesman said.
"A drone also hit a 24-story residential building on Atlasova Street. The facade and glazing of the upper floors were destroyed. There were no casualties," he said.
According to media reports, a UAV carrying three explosives flew into an apartment on the 14th floor of a building in Leninsky Avenue, but failed to detonate.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) on Tuesday said that airports in Moscow and the Moscow Region are operating as normal after the drone attack on the Russian capital.
Investigators probe drone attacks on Moscow buildings.
During the drone attack on Moscow, previously unknown types of UAVs were used that were made based on a closed-coupled canard structure, Alexey Rogozin, head of the Transport Technology Development Center said.
Under this structure, the horizontal tail of the aircraft is located in front of the wing. This may be due to the desire to increase the load capacity, the expert noted.
We can assume that Ukraine launched production of this type of UAV, and its range can reach up to a thousand kilometers, the wing frames are not less than 4 meters, Rogozin said.
Drones Shot Down in Moscow Region
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, said that several drones had been shot down as they approached Moscow.
"This morning, residents of some districts of the Moscow Region could hear the sounds of explosions - this is the work of our air defenses. Several drones were shot down on approach to Moscow," the governor wrote on Telegram.
Vorobyov asked residents to remain calm and said all emergency services are working.
The latest series of incidents involving UAVs comes after earlier this month, Moscow said that Ukraine attempted to strike the Kremlin residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin with two drones. There were no casualties from the incident. The drones were intercepted and destroyed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was not in the Kremlin at that moment. Russia's Investigative Committee initiated a case over a terrorist attack "in connection with an attempt by the Kiev regime to strike" the Kremlin with drones.