Two drones have been brought down outside Moscow as they approached the warehouses of a local military unit, Russian officials have said.
It is thought the move is the latest attempt by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia during the early stages of Kyiv’s most recent counter-offensive.
At the same time, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that the Ukrainian forces were regrouping after what he described as a failed counter-offensive and could be readying new attempts to attack Russian positions.
The two drones came down near the village of Lukino, administratively part of the city of Moscow, Russian media reported.
The wreckage of a third drone was found about 12 miles away from the site of the crash. No damage or casualties were reported.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 21 June 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/JZXB5VmisV
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/bgeFU1Vt6X— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 21, 2023
Russia’s defence ministry claimed it was “an unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist attack” by “the Kyiv regime” on its facilities in the Moscow region, adding that all three drones were brought down by radio-electronic means.
Ukraine, which usually does not confirm attacks on Russian soil, made no immediate comment about the downed drones.
Previously, Ukrainian officials have emphasised the country’s right to strike any target in response to Russia’s invasion and war that started in February 2022.
In December, Moscow claimed it had shot down drones that targeted military air bases in the Saratov and Ryazan regions in western Russia.
Other drones have reportedly flown deep into Russia multiple times. Since February, when a UJ-22 crashed 60 miles from Moscow, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly approached the Russian capital.
Last month, a drone attack jolted the Russian capital, though it caused only slight damage, in what appeared to be one of Kyiv’s deepest and most daring strikes into Russia. It was the second reported strike on Moscow that month after Russian authorities said two drones targeted the Kremlin.
At that time, Russian president Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s air defences “worked in a satisfactory way”, but added it was “clear what we need to do to plug the gaps” in the system.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, confirming Wednesday’s drone attack, said only that “the means of combatting drones did their job”.
Meanwhile, train traffic was disrupted on the Crimean Peninsula on Wednesday, according to its Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov.
Mr Aksyonov did not say what caused the disruption, but some Russian media outlets reported that the rail lines were blown up overnight in apparent sabotage operations.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considers illegal.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that his country aims to reclaim the peninsula in a counteroffensive that began in recent weeks.
In response to Ukraine’s military threat using advanced weapons supplied by Western allies, Russia has in recent weeks expended “significant effort” on assembling “elaborate” defensive lines on the approaches to Crimea, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
For the Kremlin, ensuring control of Crimea is “a top political priority,” the ministry said in a tweet Wednesday.
There is “intense fighting” in parts of southern Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces are testing Russian defences, it added.
Mr Putin claimed there had been a recent lull in the fighting in Ukraine, claiming that Kyiv’s forces were regrouping after suffering heavy losses.
He warned in an interview with Russian state television, however, that “their offensive capability hasn’t been exhausted yet, they have reserves and the enemy is considering where and how to use them”.
As analysts cautioned the war could go on for years, Mr Putin said that more Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles, fitted to some Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, will be deployed and that the new Sarmat ICBM, code-named Satan by Nato allies, is set to enter service soon.
The Russian military will also add more drones, he told military academy graduates.
Also on Wednesday, European Union countries agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia over the war, including measures aimed at preventing third countries and businesses from circumventing existing sanctions.
For example, they would restrict the export of sensitive technological goods to third countries who could then transfer them to Russia.
