Russian air defences shot down two drones geared toward Moscow in a single day, officers mentioned Wednesday, in what they described as Ukraine’s newest try and strike the Russian capital in an obvious marketing campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the battle to Russia.
The drones had been intercepted on their method to Moscow and there have been no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin mentioned. The Russian Defence Ministry described it as a terrorist assault.
One of many drones got here down within the Domodedovo district south of Moscow and the opposite fell close to the Minsk freeway, west of town, in keeping with Sobyanin. Domodedovo airport is certainly one of Moscow’s busiest.
It was not clear the place the drones had been launched from, and Ukrainian officers made no speedy remark. Ukraine normally neither confirms nor denies such assaults.
Flights had been briefly halted at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on July 30 and August 1, when drones smashed into the Moscow Metropolis enterprise district after being jammed by air defenses in two separate incidents.
In Might, Russian authorities accused Ukraine of making an attempt to assault the Kremlin with two drones in an effort to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
Latest drone assaults have geared toward targets from the Russian capital to the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Amid the strain brought on by the sporadic drone assaults, not less than 31 folks had been injured in a manufacturing unit explosion north of Moscow on Wednesday, in keeping with the governor of the area surrounding the Russian capital, Andrei Vorobyov.
The blast occurred at a warehouse storing fireworks, he mentioned, although it was on the grounds of a manufacturing unit that makes telescopic sights and different optical tools for the military, in addition to medical equipment.
The explosion blew out home windows in close by condo buildings and prompted the evacuation of the encompassing space, Vorobyov mentioned.
In one other incident that triggered alarm, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying {that a} thick plume of smoke billowed over the port metropolis of Sevastopol in Crimea on Wednesday.
The Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozzhayev, mentioned the smoke got here from a fleet coaching train and urged native residents to not fear. Sure, the scent is disagreeable however it’s completely secure, he mentioned on Telegram.
Every part is calm within the metropolis.
These incidents occurred in opposition to the backdrop of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, which Ukrainian and Western officers have warned will likely be a protracted slog in opposition to the Kremlin’s deeply entrenched forces.
Russia is pushing again in opposition to the Ukrainians in japanese areas, the place robust battles are happening, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy protection minister, mentioned Wednesday on her official Telegram channel.
In some elements of the frontline a number of modifications in place happen inside a day, she mentioned.
She claimed that Ukraine’s efforts had achieved partial success within the south. She gave no particulars.
It was not attainable to independently confirm both facet’s claims.