Drones hit Moscow, shocking Russian capital after missile attack on Kyiv
A drone attack hit Moscow on Tuesday morning, damaging two residential buildings — the first strike on a civilian area of the Russian capital since President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. It was almost certainly a prelude to a major escalation in hostilities.
The drone attack, which was confirmed by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, occurred just hours after yet another barrage of Russian airstrikes killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
In Moscow, there were no reports of serious injuries.
Kyiv has been under a relentless assault of nearnightly bombings in recent weeks with Moscow seemingly intent on weakening or destroying Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of a muchanticipated counteroffensive that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said will oust the Russian invaders from all of Ukraine’s territory.
While Ukraine denied involvement in the drone attack on Moscow, the dueling strikes on the capital cities appeared to mark a threshold moment as residents of Russia’s capital experienced direct consequences of their nation’s hostilities for the first time.
Reports that some 200 artillery shells hit Russian towns in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border Tuesday offered further evidence that Kyiv wants to bring the war to Russian territory before initiating its long-expected counteroffensive, which will inevitably necessitate further destruction in Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said Moscow residents deserved whatever came at them.
“I’m going to say some paradoxical things and you can then analyze them: First, undoubtedly, gradually Moscow is starting to sink into the fog of war … with a very desired sensation,” Podolyak said Tuesday morning during “Breakfast Show,” a Ukrainian Russian-language YouTube program. “Of course we want those people who wanted to start this big European war to feel what it is like to live in state of danger.
”And of course all those terrible men who sat in the parliament and threatened everyone, they are going to gradually receive all of that back.“
Putin said Ukraine was trying ”to intimidate“Russia and Russian citizens, and that the attack aimed to provoke “a mirror response” from Moscow.
“This, of course, is a clear sign of terrorist activity,” Putin said during a visit to a cultural center.
Meanwhile, the governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Tuesday that 200 shells had hit his region in western Russia in the previous 24 hours, the latest in a series of recent strikes that included a cross-border incursion last week by militias composed of Russian fighters who oppose Putin.
Gladkov said that the district of Shebekino, which lies roughly four miles from Ukraine, had been struck at least 155 times, and that at least two people had been killed.
In early May, two drones were intercepted over the Kremlin in an unsuccessful attack that Moscow blamed on Ukraine and claimed was an attempt to assassinate Putin. He was not in the building at the time.
During the 15 months since Putin ordered the Ukraine invasion, Muscovites have primarily witnessed the war on television or the internet. Unlike border regions, which have experienced cross-border strikes, the capital has been largely spared.
Kyiv’s denials notwithstanding, the attack on Moscow showed Ukraine and its supporters intent on bringing the fight directly to Russian citizens.
The United States has signaled displeasure at cross-border attacks and has urged Ukraine not to use American-provided weapons to attack Russia on its own soil, fearing an escalation. Kyiv has claimed the right to defend its territory as it wishes.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one woman had been killed by debris after she went out onto her balcony to watch a Russian drone strike on Tuesday. Klitschko warned residents not to do this and to heed air raid warnings.
After 17 recent airstrikes, almost all of them in the middle of the night, residents have settled into a routine each time they hear an explosion: Check Telegram for news, and depending on the type of weapon being used, decide whether to take cover or go back to sleep.
Valeria Korzhyva, 26, who lives with her husband on the 19th floor, had initially hidden in the bathroom, but then fled downstairs.
“Normally, we go down to the bottom of the building, but this time we thought it wouldn’t be necessary,” Korzhyva said. “It was late. We were very tired, and then it all happened.”