Moscow targeted in new Ukrainian drone raid – mayor
Moscow has repelled another Ukrainian drone attack, just days after the Russian capital was targeted in a major multi-wave raid involving over 90 UAVs that killed three civilians, according to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
The attack on Friday morning comes just hours after US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, departed from Moscow. Witkoff reportedly met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday night to discuss the results of US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia and relay Moscow’s position back to Washington.
“The Russian air defense forces have repelled the attack of four drones flying toward Moscow,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram shortly after 7am local time, adding that emergency services were working at the crash sites.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport has suspended operations in response to the drone raid.
Reports on Telegram claim that the roofs of two apartment blocks have been damaged by the debris of the drones in the capital. One of the affected buildings is said to be located just 2km from the Radisson Collection Hotel, Moscow, which was called the Hotel Ukraina before 2010 and occupies one of the iconic Seven Sisters skyscrapers, which were built during the era of Joseph Stalin.
Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev also confirmed that “this morning, our air defenses have repelled another UAV attack.” In a post on Telegram, he said that a total of three drones were intercepted over the region.
Two were shot down over Balashikha, a city of 500,000 located 21km east of Moscow. The debris of one of the UAVs fell on a construction site. Another drone was taken out in Leninsky Urban District south of the capital, he wrote. There were no injuries as a result of the raid, according to the governor.
CCTV footage purporting to show the explosion of a UAV in the Leninsky Urban District has been shared by Telegram channels.
On Tuesday morning, Kiev launched a major multi-wave assault on several Russian regions, with Russian air defenses neutralizing a total of 337 drones, including 91 over Moscow Region. The attack killed three civilians and injured a number of others.
Just hours later, representatives from the US and Ukraine held talks in Saudi Arabia, where they issued a joint statement offering Moscow a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin expressed support for a potential ceasefire, but raised concerns regarding how it could be implemented. Speaking on Thursday, Putin warned of potential loopholes and strategic disadvantages.
“These 30 days – how will they be used? To continue forced mobilization in Ukraine? To receive more arms supplies? To train newly mobilized units?” Putin said. Enforcing a ceasefire over the vast battlefield will be difficult, he added, and violations could easily be disputed, leading to a blame game between both sides.
