A building under construction in Moscow’s financial district was the latest structure in Moscow to be struck by a Ukrainian drone early Wednesday. According to reports, there were charred holes in the building. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told state media that the military downed two more drones over the western part of the city’s region.
According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the drones had been electronically jammed.
It was the sixth straight night of aerial attacks on Russia’s capital region. A loud explosion was reportedly heard in the city’s business district, a short time after all flights into Moscow’s airports were suspended.
The central business district is less than three miles from the Kremlin.
Attack of the Drones, Ukraine Edition
Moscow hasn’t been the only target of Ukrainian drones this week. British military intelligence announced that earlier this week, a drone operated by Kyiv’s forces may have successfully destroyed a Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber (NATO reporting name Backfire) at the Soltsy-2 airbase – which is located 650 km (400 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Images circulated on social media that showed the aircraft in flames on the runway. It is among the aircraft employed by the Kremlin to strike Ukrainian urban centers.
In addition, Ukrainian intelligence claimed to have destroyed one of Moscow’s S-400 “Triumf” air-defense systems in occupied Crimea. The loss of the surface-to-air missile platform hasn’t been confirmed, but it would be a major blow for the Kremlin, which has long touted the Triumf’s capabilities.
“The explosion completely destroyed the system, its missiles and personnel,” Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement, which was accompanied by a video of the blast. “Given the limited number of such systems in the enemy’s arsenal, this is a painful blow to the occupiers’ air defense system.”
If confirmed, this would be the third Russian S-400 system to be destroyed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine 18 months ago, according to the Dutch open-source intelligence project Oryx.
The ‘Evil Empire’ Strikes Back
Russia carried out its own drone strikes on Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, and that included a drone attack in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, which reportedly caused a blaze at grain facilities. According to Odesa Regional Military Administration Head Oleh Kiper, the attack destroyed 13,000 metric tons (14,300 U.S. tons) of grain, bringing the month’s total grain losses to around 270,000 metric tons (300,000 U.S. tons).
Moscow has stepped up its attacks on Odesa, which has crippled significant parts of the port city’s grain facilities.
The strikes began just days after President Vladimir Putin broke off Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. That wartime deal had enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger – and now it appears that the Kremlin is seeking to stop the flow of Ukrainian grain.
Author Experience and Expertise: A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
From the Vault
The Navy Sent 4 Battleships To Attack North Korea
‘Sir, We Hit a Russian Submarine’: A U.S. Navy Sub Collided with a Nuclear Attack Sub
