DAMAGE AT EXPO CENTRE IN MOSCOW AFTER RUSSIAN FORCES SHOOT DOWN UKRAINIAN DRONE

Fr 18 August 2023:

Russian forces have destroyed Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and its Black Sea Fleet, AFP reports, citing Russian officials.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air force downed a Ukrainian drone over the capital at about 04:00 (0100 GMT) on Friday.

“The UAV, after being exposed to air defence weapons, changed its flight path and fell on a non-residential building in the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment area of Moscow,” the ministry said on Telegram.

Moscow’s mayor said emergency services were on the scene, but that early reports indicated there were no casualties.

Expocentre in Moscow after drone attack. Claims suggest lack of antiwar protests because major cities remain untouched. Is that still the case? pic.twitter.com/883co3eb6l

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) August 18, 2023

“The wreckage of the UAV fell in the area of the Expo Centre, and did not cause significant damage to the building,” Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.

State-run news agency TASS reported that one of the walls of the venue’s pavilion had partially collapsed, citing emergency services.

“The area of the collapse is about 30 square meters (323 square feet),” emergency services told TASS.

TASS also reported that the airspace near the international airport of Vnukovo was briefly closed, with departures and arrivals delayed, citing the aviation service.

The expo centre damaged by the drone is on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment of the Moskva River, 100 metres (328 feet) from Moscow-City, an office block in the capital’s main business district that was struck twice within days by debris from downed drone strikes this month.

Ukraine combat drone damages building in central Moscow, Russia says

Moscow’s mayor says Ukrainian drone shot down by air defence and debris falls on city’s Expo Center causing damage.#Moscow pic.twitter.com/p1j0TOb4Ip

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) August 18, 2023

Until a series of attacks in recent months, the capital had not been targeted during the conflict in Ukraine, which began more than a year ago.

Last week, Russia destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Moscow’s west, with debris landing in a park on the Karamyshevskaya embankment.

In May drones were shot down near the Kremlin, less than five kilometres from the Expo Centre.

On 30 July, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that “war” was coming to Russia, with the country’s “symbolic centres and military bases” becoming targets.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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