Russia thwarted Ukraine’s ‘terrorist’ drone attack on Moscow, another 25-drone raid on Crimea

By INTEL-DROP July 30, 2023

“On the morning of July 30, an attempt of a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime using unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs] on objects in the city of Moscow was thwarted,” the ministry said in a Sunday statement on Telegram as cited by the official TASS news agency.

Russian Defense Ministry has declared that its forces have thwarted a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on the capital Moscow as well as another massive 25-drone raid on facilities in Crimea.

It further pointed out that one of the three drones was shot down in the surrounding Moscow region by air defense systems and the two others were jammed by electronic devices, eventually crashing into the Moscow City business district in the capital.

“One Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the air by air defense over the territory of the Odintsovsky District of the Moscow region,” the statement read. “Two more drones were suppressed by means of electronic warfare and, having lost control crashed on the territory of the Moscow-City non-residential building complex.”

The attack “insignificantly damaged” the outsides of two buildings in the Moscow City district, injuring a security guard, according to Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Kyiv’s huge 25-drone raid on the Crimean also thwarted

In a related development, the defense ministry further announced later on Sunday that Russian forces also thwarted a massive Ukrainian attack on facilities in Crimea using 25 drones Saturday night, adding that 16 of them were shut down by air defense and the other nine were suppressed by electronic warfare.

“Tonight, the Kyiv regime attempted to carry out a terrorist attack with 25 drones of airplane type on facilities on the territory of the Crimean peninsula,” the ministry said in a statement as quoted by TASS.

“Sixteen Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defense systems. Another nine Ukrainian drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and, having failed to reach the target, crashed into the waters of the Black Sea and Cape Tarkhankut,” it added, noting that no casualties or damages were inflicted as the result of the attack.

Kyiv previously waged a drone attack on Crimea using 17 UAVs on July 24, all of which were either shot down or suppressed by electronic warfare, according to Russia’s defense ministry.

Ukraine using ‘seized’ N Korean rockets against Russia, FT claims

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s US-backed defense ministry has reportedly claimed to use “North Korean rockets captured from the Russians” in its war against the country in an apparent bid to promote American allegations of Pyongyang supplying arms to Moscow.

The latest claim by Kyiv was reported Saturday by the UK-based Financial Times, which further added, without citing any evidence, that “Ukrainian soldiers were observed using North Korean rockets that they said were seized by a “friendly” country before being delivered to Ukraine” – in effect, contradicting the defense ministry’s claim that they were captured from Russian.

This is while Washington has repeatedly accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia, including alleged shipments by sea, though it has never offered any proof for the allegation. However, the existence of North Korean arms on the battlefield in Ukraine has never been verified.

Both Pyongyang and Moscow, meanwhile, have denied conducting any arms transactions so far.

The Sunday attack was the latest in a series of recent drone assaults led by Kyiv several weeks into a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Russia blames Ukraine for ‘terrorist’ drone attack on Moscow

On Monday, the Russian Defence Ministry also announced it has “suppressed” another Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow.

A drone attack on the Kremlin in May was described as an attempt on President Vladimir Putin’s life. Kyiv denied carrying out the drone attack on the Kremlin.

Russian officials have repeatedly slammed Ukraine’s drone attacks on Moscow which have been largely repelled. Russia’s foreign ministry has blamed the US and its NATO allies for providing Kyiv with arms for such attacks.

Russia has warned the West against arming Kyiv’s “Nazi” regime with weapons, saying it would only add to the losses.

Moscow launched its military campaign in eastern Ukraine in February 2022 to aid the persecuted Russian-speaking population there and stop NATO’s eastward encroachment towards its borders.