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Russia repels Ukraine drone attack on Moscow as missiles hit gathering of drone makers in Ukrainian city

This picture taken on June 30, 2010 shows a Russian Buk-M2 air defense system displayed at a military show outside Moscow, Russia. (File photo by AP)

Russian authorities have reported repelling Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and another city as Kiev declares a Russian missile strike targeting the venue of Ukrainian drone manufacturers in a northern city.

“Last night, a drone tried to reach Moscow from the southern direction," Moscow Mayor Sergei Soyanin declared Sunday in a post on the Telegram messaging app, adding: "It was stopped by the air defense forces. Thanks to the military for their work.” 

Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry further stated that the drone was suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed in a deserted area after losing control.

There were no casualties or damage from the drone crash, it added.

Also on Sunday, another Ukrainian drone crashed into the roof of a railway station in southern Russian city of Kursk, slightly injuring five people, Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovoit declared.

“According to preliminary information, it crashed into the roof of the railway station building, after which a fire broke out on the roof. Five people were slightly injured from glass fragments,” the governor further stated in a Telegram post.

Russian missile hits secret meeting drone makers in N Ukraine

The developments came after Kiev reported a Russian missile strike on Saturday targeting a theater where Ukrainian drone manufacturers were holding a secret meeting in the northern city of Chernihiv while wondering how Russians had learned about the gathering.

This is while Ukrainian officials and Western media outlets tried to highlight the number of casualties in the strike and treating the attack as one targeting civilians.

This picture shows emergency services at the scene of a missile strike on a theater in Chernihiv, Ukraine. (Photo via EPA by State Emergency Service Of Ukraine)

Regional governor Viacheslav Chaus and other Ukrainian authorities reported seven people killed and 144 others wounded, with 41 people remaining hospitalized on Saturday.

Chaus, however, pointed out that the missile had hit the theater where “a meeting” was taking place and that people leaving church and those passing by were among those hurt in the attack.  

He further stated that law enforcement agencies were looking into how Russians had become aware of the event, which he only claimed included “business and community representatives” amid local media reports that those taking part in the meeting were drone manufacturers.

“All the participants, including engineers, members of the military and volunteers, were asked to go to an air raid shelter in the theater when the alarm sounded,” Reuters reported citing “an event organizer.”

"All those who took shelter remained safe," Maria Berlinska, a co-founder of the Dignitas Fund, whose fundraising includes money for drones for the frontline, said in a Facebook post as cited in the report.

Following the missile strike, Ukraine’s Western-sponsored President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened retaliatory measures, claiming: "I am sure our soldiers will give a response to Russia for this terrorist attack; a notable response."

He made the remarks in his nightly video address, delivered early on Sunday at the end of an official visit to Sweden, the newest member of the US-led NATO military alliance, where he asked for more weapons for Kiev’s war efforts against Moscow.

The development came just days after Russian missiles targeted a sea-drone manufacturing plant in Ukraine, its defense ministry announced on Tuesday.

The targets were hit with long-range ship-launched missiles, the ministry added in a statement, describing the drones built at the facilities as “essentially unmanned boats loaded with explosives,” noting that they were used by Ukraine to commit “terrorist attacks.”

The ministry further emphasized that the missile strike was successful and that all targets had been destroyed, though it did not mention where the attack took place.

The missile strike came after Ukrainian forces used such sea drones to wage an attack on the bridge across the Kerch Strait, which links the Crimean Peninsula with Russia's mainland.


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