Russia claims to down Ukrainian UAV headed for Moscow, disrupting airport operations

Russian Defense Ministry says drone was ‘electronically disabled’ and crashed in forest outside capital, which has been increasingly targeted by Ukraine in recent months

By AFP 11 August 2023, 1:49 pm 0 Edit

Police officers work at the site where a Ukrainian drone targeting the Russian capital was downed by an air defence system, in western Moscow on August 11, 2023. (Alexander NEMENOV/AFP)

MOSCOW — Russia said Friday it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the western outskirts of Moscow, the latest in a growing number of aerial attacks on the capital.

“This afternoon, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.

Friday’s attack was the latest in a series of Ukrainian drones to target Moscow in the past week.

Largely spared in the early part of the conflict, the capital has seen a surge in attacks in recent months.

“The drone was electronically disabled and crashed in a forest in the west of Moscow,” the Defense Ministry said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris fell in the Karamyshevskaya embankment, where emergency services were at work.

File: A view of a damaged office block of the Moscow International Business Center (Moskva City) following a reported drone attack in Moscow on July 30, 2023. (Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

The international airport of Vnukovo temporarily introduced restrictions, which were lifted within an hour, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.

On Thursday, Russia said it downed two drones headed for Moscow, a day after two others were destroyed on approach.

At the start of this month, an office block in the capital’s main business district was struck twice within days by debris from a downed drone strike.