Offering supporting evidence to details in DroneDJ’s exclusive report on Ukraine’s covert military program preparing drone strikes deep inside Russia, UAVs struck Moscow this morning in what appears to have been a response to the wake of relentless aerial attacks on Kyiv in recent days.
Various media outlets published alerts early Tuesday of drones hitting several buildings in Moscow. That activity roughly corresponds to the kinds of aerial strikes DroneDJ’s report detailed Friday about a Ukraine program dedicated to readying UAV attacks inside Russia and territories is occupies.
Read more: Exclusive: Insiders describe Ukraine operation preparing drone strikes inside Russia
Early information from Russian officials indicated the presumed Ukraine drone assault caused “minor” damage and no serious injuries after flying into a pair of buildings.
Reuters cited social media posts claiming “four to 10 drones were shot on the outskirts of Moscow and in its immediate region.” That somewhat ambiguous wording appeared to jibe with other reports stating multiple UAVs were part the morning strike, with most having been neutralized by air defenses before reaching their targets.
The reported assault on Moscow’s capital followed Russia’s three days of drone strikes of unprecedented intensity on Kyiv, involving what Ukraine authorities said were 20 UAVs flown overnight in an onslaught made up of three different waves within 24 hours. Local air defenses managed to shoot down nearly all those incoming craft.
Early reports suggest a similar rate of success in defending Moscow Tuesday. Yet the additional demonstration of Ukraine’s ability to reach deep inside Russia itself – including the heart of its capital – is bound to unnerve Kremlin leader by bringing the war they provoked and expected to rapidly win back home.
On Friday DroneDJ offered exclusive information on how Ukraine’s military intelligence has been working with domestic and foreign tech startups to prepare drones for specific, medium-term attacks inside Russia’s territory. Those included a planned UAV landing in the midst of Red Square’s May 9 military parade celebrating the USSR’s victory in WWII over Nazi Germany.
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That project was ultimately ditched with its launch just hours off, sources involved told DroneDJ, presumably due to heightened Russian air defenses rushed into place after May 3 drone explosions above the Kremlin – an operation US intelligence officials have linked to Ukraine.
Ukraine is also known to have successfully inflicted significant damage on military bases and energy infrastructure inside Russia over the past year. On a few occasions its UAVs made it to areas near Moscow before they either crashed or were shot down.
If Tuesday’s attacks on Moscow are similarly traced back to Ukraine, it would suggest the nation’s covert drone strike force and wider military may now have the experience and hardware to conduct attacks with minimal preparation, and with virtually no lead time needed to launch them. If so, that would represent a formidable capability the Kremlin would have to deal with even as it awaits Kyiv’s expected launch of a counter-offensive within Ukraine itself.
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