Drone crashes near gas plant close to Kremlin in aerial attack
A felled drone has been pictured near a natural gas distribution station southeast of Moscow in what the regional governor has claimed was a failed attack against a “civil infrastructure facility”. After the Russian MoD claimed Ukraine had attempted two drone strikes overnight, Russian media is awash with claims that this was yet another attempt to target areas outside of Ukraine. If it was carried out by Ukraine, though their policy is to never address claims of attacks outside of their own country, it would be the closest attempted drone strike to the Russian capital since the invasion last February.
The crash happened on Tuesday 68 miles from the centre of the Russian capital of Moscow.
Images of the drone show its remains in what appears to be a forested area in the snowdrift.
Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported the incident near the town of Kolomna, southeast of Moscow.
Mr Vorobyov said the drone appeared to have been intended to strike a “civil infrastructure facility” but there was no damage.
“This happened near the locality of Gubastovo. The drone likely targeted a civilian facility, but did not damage it. No victims either,” he wrote.
He said the FSB security agency was dealing with the situation and there was no danger to residents.
Telegram channel Shot claimed the drone in question was an UJ-22 Airborne, a strike UAV manufactured by Ukrjet, which is a Ukrainian company based in Kyiv. This claim, however, could not be verified.
The channel added: “Our source says that apparently the drone quickly lost altitude, possibly due to running out of fuel, and damaged its wing against the trees, which caused it to fall.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry accused Ukraine of launching drone attacks towards two other civil infrastructure targets.
Footage emerged on social media of a minor explosion in Adygea, south of the Sea of Azov.
They also claimed that the southern Russian region of Krasnodar had been targeted.
They reported that anti-drone defence systems had caused the Ukrainian drones to veer off course and miss their targets.
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“Both drones lost control and deviated from their flight paths. One fell into a field, the other, deviating from its trajectory, did not harm the intended target,” it said.
The felled drone near Moscow is the latest in a series of aerial issues facing Russia on Tuesday.
Around midday, St Petersburg’s air space was closed for a 200km radius and fighter jets were scrambled after an unidentified object was spotted.
The local airport temporarily closed and five flights that had departed from Moscow were ordered to return back to the capital.
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