Drone Attack Briefly Shuts Moscow Airport

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Facts

  • According to the Russian Defense Ministry, three Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow in the early hours of Sunday, injuring one civilian, damaging two buildings, and prompting the capital's Vnukovo airport to temporarily shut down for arrivals and departures.1
  • Russian officials claimed one Ukrainian drone was destroyed in the air over the Odintsovo district by air defense systems, and two others were jammed by electronic warfare and crashed into the Moscow City business district.2
  • Moscow City mayor Sergey Sobyanin posted on Telegram that the "facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged," adding that there were "no victims or casualties." There's no comment from Ukraine.3
  • The Russian Defense Ministry referred to the incident — the fourth such attempt at a strike on the Russian capital this month and the third this week — as an "attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime."4
  • Meanwhile, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin said that an African initiative could serve as a basis for finding peace; however, he added that it's hard to realize when "the Ukrainian army is on the offensive... We cannot cease fire when we are under attack."5
  • Elsewhere, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law moving the Day of Ukrainian Statehood to July 15 from July 28 and the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7 to "abandon the Russian heritage" as per "the desire of all Ukrainians to live their lives with their own traditions, holidays."6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2TASS, 3UKRINFORM, 4Euronews, 5Reuters, and 6CBS.

Narratives

  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by The Moscow Times. Ukraine continues to conduct drone attacks to harm and provoke Russia. Such terrorist attacks wouldn't be possible without the help the United States and its NATO allies. If Kyiv doesn't stop targeting the Russian civilian infrastructure and its decision-making centers, Russia reserves the right to respond.
  • Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by NBC. It's hypocritical that Moscow is condemning Kyiv for drone attacks on its territory when Russian missiles targeted the eastern city of Dnipro late on Friday, striking a residential building and injuring at least nine civilians, including two children — just one of many attacks on civilians; its Russian terror that must end.

Predictions