CNN
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Drone strikes hit two non-residential buildings in the Russian capital Moscow at around 4 a.m. local on Monday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
Sobyanin added that there was no serious damage or casualties.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence on Monday claimed the two Ukrainian drones were “suppressed” and “crashed” in Moscow.
“On the morning of July 24, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to launch a terrorist attack using two unmanned aerial vehicles against facilities on the territory of the city of Moscow was thwarted,” the ministry said on Telegram.
“Two Ukrainian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) were suppressed by electronic warfare means and crashed,” the ministry added.
There were no casualties “as a result of the thwarted terrorist attack of the Kiev regime,” according to the ministry.
According to Russian state media outlet, TASS, a drone hit a high-rise business center on Likhacheva Avenue in Moscow.
TASS is reporting drone debris was found on Komsomolsky Avenue in Moscow on Monday morning. TASS said that based on initial reports, there were no casualties.
Law enforcement agencies and emergency services are currently working on the scene, according to TASS.
Traffic on Komsomolsky Avenue from the center of Moscow towards the region has been blocked off, TASS reported citing the Department of Transportation and Road Infrastructure Development of Moscow.
CNN could not independently verify the reports.
The reported attack comes after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.
The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks which have taken place on Russian soil during the course of the war which Moscow began when it invaded in February last year, unleashing its military might on its democratic neighbor.
Those include a drone attack on Moscow in May, which damaged two buildings and and injured two people for which Ukraine denied direct involvement.
Earlier this month, Russia said it “destroyed or neutralized” five Ukrainian drones in what it described as a “terrorist” attack.
