Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian aerial drone in Moscow and two naval drones that attacked patrol boats in the Black Sea, without causing any damage or casualties, officials said Friday.
“This morning, while attempting to reach Moscow, the air defense forces destroyed a drone.
The capital’s emergency services are on the scene and according to initial information, no deaths or injuries have been identified, Sergei Sobyanin added.
“The partial collapse of an exterior wall was detected in one of the pavilions of the exhibition center”advanced Russian state news agency TASS, citing emergency services.
❗️Another drone strike on Moscow#Moscow residents report en masse the sounds of an explosion. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said a drone was shot down by air defense forces while trying to fly over Moscow. The wreckage of the UAV fell near Expocenter.
Now… pic.twitter.com/HNlgPTsmGQ
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 18, 2023
A drone strike on Moscow last night. An exhibition center was hit, Russian authorities reported.
Vnukovo airport was subsequently closed to flights. pic.twitter.com/2Z5YAEO7NN
– Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 18, 2023
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was launched at 4 a.m. (2 a.m. in Lisbon) and targeted “objects in Moscow and the Moscow region”.
The exhibition center is located about five kilometers from the Kremlin, the seat of the government of Russia.
⚡️ Consequences of the nightly drone attack on #Moscow – debris damaged the eighth pavilion of the Expocenter. pic.twitter.com/UEcQSPUBzS
– Northern Lights (@aborealis940) August 18, 2023
The airspace at Vnukovo International Airport, one of the airports serving the Russian capital, was closed for some time and departures and arrivals were postponed, TASS added.
Also this morning, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of attacking two of its patrol boats with naval drones on the surface, 237 kilometers southwest of Sevastopol, on the Black Sea, at 22:55 (20:55 in Lisbon).
According to a statement quoted by TASS, the attack was directed against the patrol boats of Pytlivyi and Vasily Bykov, who managed to destroy the drones with their own weapons.
The ministry recalled that on August 4, the Ukrainian army had attacked the naval base in Novorossiysk, where one of the main Russian ports on the Black Sea is located, with two similar drones.
Drone attacks in Russian-controlled areas have increased in recent weeks, mainly targeting Moscow and the Crimean peninsula, annexed by the Russians in 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on July 30 that the war was “gradually returning to the territory of Russia, to its symbolic centers and military bases”.
Naval drones have attacked Russian ships several times in recent weeks since Moscow refused in mid-July to renew a UN-brokered deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain.
The first cargo ship to leave Ukraine after the end of the grain deal arrived in Turkish waters on Thursday, despite the Russian siege.
Zelensky said the cargo ship was traveling along the route of “a new humanitarian corridor” defined by Kiev after Russia fired warning shots last weekend at a cargo ship headed for Izmail, a port on the Danube River in southern Ukraine .
Source: DN
