Several drone attacks struck Crimea and Moscow overnight, causing the evacuation of several villages in the Russian-occupied peninsula and damaging buildings in the vicinity of the defense ministry in the Russian capital, Russian officials said Monday.
“Drone strikes on two non-residential buildings were recorded at around four o’clock this morning,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in the early hours of Monday, adding there had been “no serious damage or casualties.”
“Two Ukrainian UAVs were suppressed by means of electronic warfare and crashed” over Moscow, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement, accusing Kyiv of being responsible for the attack.
The drones damaged two buildings in the Russian capital, causing temporary traffic interruptions, state-owned newswire TASS reported. One of the buildings is located just a few blocks from the Russian defense ministry, in downtown Moscow.
An ammunition storage facility in southern Crimea was also hit by a drone strike overnight, the Moscow-installed Governor of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said.
“It was decided to evacuate the population of nearby villages within a radius of five kilometers from the site of the accident,” Aksyonov said. “According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.”
In a separate statement, the Russian defense ministry also attributed that attack to Kyiv, saying 17 drones in total were used to carry out the hit.
Ukraine, which doesn’t usually confirm or deny responsibility for such attacks, has not said it was behind either of the strikes.
Moscow and Crimea have been targeted by several strikes over the past few months, with Russian officials blaming Ukraine.
The strategic Kerch bridge connecting occupied Crimea to Russia was hit twice this month.
In May, Russia claimed it had foiled a plot to target President Vladimir Putin after the Kremlin was hit by an overnight drone attack — which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later denied responsibility for.
