Moscow came under fire from armed drones Sunday for the third time in a week, with the latest attack injuring at least one Russian citizen and temporarily shutting down an airport near the Russian capital.
Ukraine did not officially claim responsibility for the drone attack, but officials in Kyiv said the incident proves there will be no “peace or calm” inside Russia as long as it wages war in Ukraine. Those comments seem to suggest that Ukraine is responsible for Sunday’s assault.
Sunday’s attack was the third such attempted drone strike on the Russian capital over the past week and the fourth this month. It came amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive operation in the disputed Donbas region of Ukraine, a campaign that has gained steam in recent days as Ukrainian troops try to move past minefields and breakthrough Russian defenses.
The combination of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and increased drone attacks on Russian soil has ratcheted up tensions in Moscow. Some leading Russian officials are now speaking openly about the use of nuclear weapons, should that be the country’s last resort to stop a Ukrainian victory.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, said in social media posts Sunday that his country may be forced to use the world’s most dangerous weapons.
“Imagine if the … offensive, which is backed by NATO, was a success and they tore off a part of our land then we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon according to the rules of a decree from the president of Russia,” he wrote, according to English-language media translations of his remarks. “There would simply be no other option.”
Mr. Medvedev and other Russian officials have become even more fiery in their rhetoric over the past several weeks as the drone attacks on Moscow have become more common. Sunday’s incident was the latest in an apparent effort to strike fear in the hearts of Russians at home.
Russian officials said one of Sunday’s armed drones was shot down outside the city. The other two were jammed and crashed in Moscow’s business district, officials said. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that two office buildings were damaged when the jammed drones crashed into them.
A security guard in one of the buildings was injured, TASS reported.
Airspace in Moscow was temporarily restricted and flights were halted at the city’s Vnukovo airport, according to media reports.
Sunday’s attack was the third such attempted drone strike on the Russian capital over the past week and the fourth this month. It came amid Ukraine’s major counteroffensive operation in the disputed Donbas region of Ukraine.
While Kyiv has not officially taken responsibility for the drone attacks, it seems likely that Ukraine is behind the operations to bring the war to the Russian homeland.
“All of the people who think the war doesn’t concern them, it’s already touching them,” Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, said Sunday.
“There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior anymore. They got what they wanted.”
Indeed, the fight increasingly has come to Russian soil. Last Monday, Moscow used electronic warfare systems to jam two drones attempting to hit targets in Moscow, one of which appears to have been Russia’s Ministry of Defense headquarters in the heart of the city.
Russian state-controlled media reported that one of the drones fell on the Komsomolsky highway just over 200 yards from the Defense Ministry building. A strike on that facility would have represented a major symbolic blow to the Russian military and might have killed or injured top military officials.
Repeated efforts to strike the capital have sparked anger among Russian officials and fueled fears that the Russian side may launch new strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets.
Mr. Medvedev said in a social media post last week that his country should increase its attacks on “non-standard targets” in Ukraine.
Mr. Medvedev, who has emerged as one of his country’s most pro-war voices, said in a social media post last week that his country should increase its attacks on “non-standard targets” in Ukraine.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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