At least one Ukrainian unmanned aerial assault vehicle struck an apartment building near central Moscow in the early hours of today, with no casualties reported, the Russian capital’s mayor Sergei Sabianin said, days before a military parade on Victory Day (May 9) in Russia.
Shabyanin said via Telegram that emergency response services were “working on the spot” after the strike. The apartment building, which the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Independent described as “luxurious”, is located in a western district of the Russian capital, where several embassies are based.
Two other Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russia’s anti-aircraft defences, Mayor Sabianin added.
The Russian Defence Ministry said in late April that this year’s parade would be held without the participation of tanks and missile systems.
Russia commemorates every May 9 the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — the “great patriotic war” as Moscow continues to call it.
Although Russian authorities often report Ukrainian raids of this kind in the Moscow area, generally the targets are airfields, military or energy facilities. Civilian infrastructure in the capital is rarely damaged, and as a rule the staff officially assures that most drones are shot down.
