MOSCOW – Russia announced on Thursday that it has shot down 13 Ukrainian drones attempting to strike Moscow and the main city in Russian-annexed Crimea.
Two drones were struck by air defenses near Sevastopol, the Crimean city that serves as Russia’s Black Sea navy base, and nine others were jammed and crashed into the Black Sea, according to Russia’s military ministry.
According to the defense ministry, one drone was shot down as it reached the Russian capital over the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow, while another was shot down over the renowned Odintsovo neighborhood of Moscow region.
“Today… attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles were thwarted,” the military ministry said. It was stated that there were no casualties as a result of the drones.
Drone air strikes have risen deep inside Russia since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Later in May, civilian sections of the capital were struck, and earlier this month, a Moscow business zone was targeted twice in three days.
In recent days, Ukrainian remotely piloted boats, sometimes known as drones, assaulted a Russian petroleum tanker and a navy installation at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Although officials have openly expressed delight with the attacks on Russian territory, Ukraine normally does not comment on who is behind them.
According to the New York Times, US intelligence agencies believed Ukrainian spies or military intelligence were behind the drone hit on the Kremlin in May.
Source: Reuters