A rare drone attack jolted Moscow early Tuesday, causing only light damage but forcing evacuations as residential buildings were struck in the Russian capital for the first time in the war against Ukraine.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, pursued its relentless bombardment of Kyiv with a third assault on the city in 24 hours.
The Russian Defence Ministry said five drones were shot down in Moscow and the systems of three others were jammed, causing them to veer off course.
President Vladimir Putin called it a “terrorist” act by Kyiv. The attack, causing only what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called “insignificant damage” to several buildings, brought the war home to civilians in Russia’s capital.
Two people received treatment for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalisation, he said in a Telegram post, adding that residents of two high-rise buildings
damaged in the attack were evacuated.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said some of the drones were “shot down on the approach to Moscow.”
Ukraine made no direct comment on the attack, which would be one of its deepest and most daring strikes into Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 15 months ago.
Putin said Moscow’s air defense “worked in a satisfactory way,” but added it is “clear that our task is to plug the gaps” in the system.
“The Kyiv regime ... attempts to intimidate Russian citizens and strikes at civilian buildings,” he said at a public event, responding to a question from the head of a Kremlin-allied think tank.
“It is, of course, a clear indication of terrorist activity.”
Asked by The Associated Press whether there is high-level concern that the invasion of Ukraine is endangering Russian civilians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only that attacks on Russia reinforce the need to prosecute the war.
Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said the Kremlin’s policy is to play down the attacks.
“You ask, why is Putin behaving like this, does he really not understand and fear the consequences?” she wrote in a Telegram post.
