Moscow attacked by drones, Russia says, forcing authorities to temporarily close international airport

Full Moon rises over Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Russia on July 3, 2023. Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• An apparent drone attack on Moscow led to flights being delayed at one of the city's international airports.
• Russian state media claimed that five drones were involved in the attack.
• The defense ministry said all the drones were disabled, and no injuries were reported.

Five drones were involved in an attack on Moscow just after dawn, the Russian defense ministry claimed Tuesday, blaming Ukraine for the latest incursion over the capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, in a post on Telegram, said there were no casualties and that all the drones were "repelled by air defense forces." However, the incident did lead to flights being delayed for about three hours at the city's international Vnukovo Airport.

One of the drones crashed into an air base in Kubinka, outside Moscow, and another slammed into a building in the suburb of new Moscow, sparking a fire, according to TASS, a government-run media outlet.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry, cast the incident as "another act of terrorism committed by Kyiv," the outlet reported.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility. But in May, after a previous drone attack on Moscow, one expert told Insider it looked to be a case of the Ukrainian government giving Russia "a taste of its own medicine."

Ukraine has acknowledged carrying out drone strikes against military targets in its own internationally recognized territory. Earlier this year, a Ukrainian military intelligence official said one of his government's drone strikes had targeted a Russia oil facility in occupied Crimea. And last fall, Ukraine attacked Russia's Black Sea Fleet with a swarm of marine drones.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Russian drones attacked a residential building and an office of Kyiv's domestic intelligence service, killing three and wounding 21 others.

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