Pictured above, a drone strike’s impact on an area in Kyiv, 2022. Drone strikes leave a wide aftermath, with resulting “massive” fires.
In the early hours of Tuesday, July 4, the Russian capital was once again targeted by drone attacks.
Just as Moscow was beginning to recover from the shock of Yevgeniy Prigozhin's march on the city, five drones were intercepted above the city, the Russian Ministry of Defence reportedly stated. U.S. officials explained that the drones were of Ukrainian origin, The New York Times reported.
The five drones were sucessfully intercepted before reaching Moscow, with four shot down and one jammed by electronic warfare.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing two of the drones flying at a low altitude of approximately 200 meters, coming within touching distance of the city and reaching as far as the New Moscow suburb to the southwest.
Footage circulating on Russian social media, allegedly filmed at the time the drones were taken out, captured the sound of a huge boom echoing around the tall apartment blocks of outer Moscow. The authenticity of the footage has yet to be independently verified. Media footage published by The Telegraph caught glimpses of structures set ablaze as the drones came down. The explosion was reportedly "massive."
The Moscow Times, an independent bilingual newspaper, reported that two of the drones landed in an open field 2.5 miles from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, leading to the airport's closure for several hours and the diversion of flights to other city airports.
The fifth drone, Russian authorities stated, was downed in the neighboring Odintsovo district after being suppressed by electronic warfare. However, the Ministry of Defence did not disclose where this drone landed or the extent of the damage caused.
The Kremlin news agency TASS, citing a source in the emergency services, reported that the fifth drone fell around 4 a.m. in the town of Kubinka, landing on the territory of a local military base. The town is home to the Kubinka Aerodrome, where some of the Russian air force's top-performing squadrons are stationed, along with a military garrison.
The anti-Kremlin Telegram channel Baza reported that the drone hit an 'administrative building' on the base without causing any casualties. Whether the airbase or military garrison were the intended targets or merely coincidental is unclear. Regardless, the perpetrators of the attack will likely view it as a minor victory.
Predictably, Russian authorities have blamed Ukraine for the attack. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, described it as 'an attempted attack by Ukrainian drones', while the Russian MoD labeled the incident as 'an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack'. As with previous drone attacks that have rattled Russia, particularly Moscow, over the past few months, the true origins of this attack remain uncertain and will likely remain so until the war concludes.
However, the Kremlin's strategy of blaming Ukraine at every turn is not without risk. Less than two weeks after Prigozhin's Wagner forces came within 200 miles of the capital, Moscow's residents are on edge.
The New Moscow region has been consistently caught up in the crossfire in the three drone incidents aimed at Moscow since the end of May, media reports stated. The possibility of expanding drone flight paths with each subsequent attack is not unlikely.
For Russians, the Kremlin's narrative of positioning itself as a victim in the conflict may lose its potency in the face of increasingly regular attacks. The drone incidents serve as a stark reminder of the ongoing conflict and the potential for violence to reach their doorsteps, challenging the government's ability to maintain control and security.