Russia accuses Ukraine of orchestrating drone attack on Moscow

The Russian Defence Ministry, Sergei Shoigu, said on Monday morning that a Ukrainian drone attack against Moscow had been thwarted. On the night of 23-24 July 2023, a Ukrainian drone attacked the Russian capital, while two other drones were intercepted and destroyed. According to the Russian news agency TASS, one of the drones fell on Komsomolsky Prospekt, near the Russian Ministry of Defence, while the other hit a business centre on Likhacheva Street, close to one of Moscow's main ring roads.

The attacks were also confirmed by the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, who said on his Telegram channel: “Today, at around four in the morning, drone strikes on two non-residential buildings were recorded. There was no damage and no serious casualties”. According to the BBC, although Sobyanin used the expression “strikes on buildings”, the Ministry of Defence stated that the drones had in fact “crashed”. Overall, the military department announced that the two drones had been “suppressed” using electronic warfare.

The choice of location for the attack is not insignificant. In a tweet, investigative journalist Khristo Grozev claimed that the house at 17 Komsomolsky Prospekt, where the wreckage of the second drone was found, is not only across from a military orchestra, but also close to the headquarters of the GRU (the intelligence service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) cyber groups, including the Fancy Bear hacker group, which has allegedly been active since 2004. Today, Grozev is declared a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities and his Bellingcat project, an NGO of online investigators specialising in fact-checking and open-source intelligence, is considered an undesirable organisation.

According to BBC News, there are other military complexes close to the scene of the attack, such as the Alexander Nevsky Military University, Prince of Novgorod and Russian national hero. Historically, this area was known as the “Khamovniki barracks”, where “several other top secret GRU facilities” could be located. In addition, 17 Komsomolsky Prospekt is located “less than 200 metres” from the Ministry of Defence's National Defence Control Centre, according to Rob Lee, Senior Research Fellow at the US-based Institute for Foreign Policy Studies.

This is the third drone attack against Moscow since the beginning of May. On the night of 3 May 2023, the Russian capital was hit by a drone attack that exploded over the dome of the Senate Palace. Twenty-seven days later, in a more massive attack, drones crashed into residential buildings on Leninsky Prospect, Profsoyuznaya Street and Atlasova Street in New Moscow without causing any serious damage. Finally, on 4 July 2023, the Russian authorities reported the demolition of five drones as they approached Moscow. According to BBC news, officials have not explained why they were able to divert the drones from their trajectory only in Moscow this time, and not when they were approaching the capital, as was the case at the beginning of the month.

For the moment, Kiev has not officially commented on this new drone attack on Moscow. Ukraine generally denies any involvement in attacks on Russian territory, although its officials often allude to them. However, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said this morning on his Telegram channel: “Last night, drones attacked the capital of the orca and Crimea. Electronic warfare and air defence are less and less capable of protecting the skies from the occupiers. Whatever happens, there will be more”.

This event took place against the backdrop of a resumption of massive Russian strikes on Odessa. The city's historic centre, under UNESCO protection, was the target of rocket fire the day before the Ukrainian drone attack, as were other historic buildings such as the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour. In addition, port infrastructures in the Odessa region also came under drone attack, a week after Moscow decided to withdraw from the cereals’ agreement.