(Moscow) Russia announced on Wednesday that it had neutralized three drones in the Moscow region, including two near a military base, accusing Kyiv of being behind the attack while Ukraine said it had shot down six explosive drones Russians.
“Today an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with three drones against sites in the Moscow region was halted,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“All the drones were neutralized by electronic warfare systems, lost control and crashed,” he explained.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday morning that it had intercepted six Iranian-made Shahed 136/131 explosive drones launched by Russia during a new night attack against its neighbor.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, all the aircraft were launched from the north and shot down over the Khmelnytsky region in the west of the country, where Russia regularly claims to target Ukrainian military targets located several hundred kilometers behind the front line.
According to Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, two drones crashed “at 5:30 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. (2:30 a.m. and 10:50 p.m. Eastern Time) when approaching the ‘a military base’ located in the village of Kalininets, in the Naro-Fominsk district, about fifty kilometers south-west of Moscow.
“The debris has been discovered, there is no damage or casualties,” he said on Telegram, calling on residents to “keep calm”.
It was not immediately clear whether the third aircraft was also targeting the military base or another objective.
Moscow and its region, located more than 500 km from the Ukrainian border, have so far been rarely targeted by drone attacks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, even if this type of attack has multiplied elsewhere in Russia.
Last month, drones crashed into apartment buildings in Moscow, shocking the population.
In early May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin, the seat of Russian power, in an attack blamed on Ukraine.
In recent months, drones have also targeted military bases or energy infrastructure elsewhere in Russia.