The UAVs have damaged the facades of two high-rise buildings in the Russian capital, Sergey Sobyanin said
Moscow’s financial and business district on May 9, 2023. © Aleksey Nikolsky / Sputnik
Ukrainian drones have attacked Moscow City, the Russian capital’s iconic financial and business district, where some of Europe’s tallest skyscrapers are located, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in the early hours of Sunday.
“The facades of the [Moscow] City’s two office towers sustained minor damage. There are no casualties or injuries,” Sobyanin wrote in a short post on his Telegram channel.
The Russian Defense Ministry later released a statement, saying that a total of three drones participated in the raid. According to the MOD, they were disabled by air defenses, with one crashing outside Moscow, and two others veering off course and crashing “on the territory of a non-residential complex in Moscow City.”
News agency TASS cited emergency services as saying that there was “an explosion” between the fifth and the sixth floor of the 50-story building in the ‘IQ-Quarter’ complex, which has three high-rise buildings. Local media reported that residents heard a loud blast.
The damaged building has been evacuated, officials said. The evacuations from other Moscow City buildings are underway.
A second “explosion” occurred at the OKO II building, which contains offices and shops, officials said. Emergency services told TASS that windows were shattered between the first and the fourth floor. They also said that a security guard has been injured.
Unverified video posted to Telegram reportedly shows the moment of the attack.
Police and firefighters have arrived at the scene.
All flights to and from Vnukovo airport, which is to the southwest of Moscow, have been canceled, aviation officials told TASS. Two of Moscow’s other airports – Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo – are working as usual.
The district, officially called the Moscow International Business Center, comprises skyscrapers with both high-end apartments and office spaces. Among them are the Federation and OKO complexes, which include Europe’s second and third tallest buildings respectively.
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on the Russian capital in recent weeks. Many of the UAVs were destroyed or disabled, according to the country’s Defense Ministry. Russia views such attacks as acts of terrorism.
