Russia Shot Down a Bunch of Drones After an Apparent Attack on Moscow

Russia intercepted 10 drones over Moscow on Tuesday morning, according to Russian officials, in what appears to be the largest attack on the capital since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At least 25 drones attacked the city, according to the Russian Telegram channel Baza and independent open-source investigators.

“This morning, the Kyiv regime launched a terrorist attack with unmanned aerial vehicles on premises in the city of Moscow,” Russia's defence ministry said in a statement translated by Reuters. 

“Of course we are pleased to watch and predict an increase in the number of attacks. But of course we have nothing directly to do with this,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also told Reuters. 

Ukrainian officials have a policy of not confirming or commenting on operations inside Russia, but the attack on Moscow came after successive waves of Russian missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv over Sunday and Monday. Witnesses in Moscow said the attacks appeared directed at affluent suburbs in western Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin is said to have a home. 

Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the boss of the Wagner mercenary company, whose criticism of the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine has frequently been bombastic, unleashed a new video statement attacking Russia’s military leadership in response to the incident. 

“Smelly creatures, what are you doing?” he said. “You are cattle. Tear your shit out of your offices. Why the fuck do you allow these drones to fly to Moscow?"

Ukraine, or its Russian allies, were likely behind a much smaller drone attack against the Kremlin just a day before the annual May 9 Victory Day parade, according to US intelligence. That incident scorched the Kremlin roof and led to speculation that the normally baroque, hours-long event had been reduced to ten minutes out of fear of a follow-up attack. 

But Tuesday's incident in Moscow appeared to be  the largest attempt to hit the Russian capital by far. It was widely documented on social media with footage of drones being intercepted over Moscow and visible damage to residential buildings, wounded or injured two civilians, according to Moscow’s mayor in a statement on Telegram. 

Russia immediately responded with its third strike on Kyiv in 24 hours early Tuesday morning with media reporting at least one person killed, three injured and a residential apartment building on fire. On Monday, a rare daylight attack of Russian cruise missiles sent commuters and school children fleeing for shelter in the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian officials told the New York Times that Tuesday’s drone attack was the 17th such assault on Kyiv in the last 30 days. While most of the cruise missiles and Iranian made kamikaze drones commonly used in the Russian attacks have been intercepted by Ukrainian air defences, recently bolstered by cutting edge NATO equipment including US supplied Patriot missiles.