Moscow, Russia
Reuters
A high-rise building in Moscow’s business district that houses three Russian government ministries was struck by a drone for the second time in three days on Tuesday, in what Russia called an attempted Ukrainian “terrorist attack”.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser said Moscow should expect more drone attacks and “more war”.
Emergency personnel work near a damaged office building in the Moscow City following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow Russia, on 1st August, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina
The building that was hit is known as the “IQ quarter”, which houses the ministry of economic development, the digital ministry and the ministry of industry and trade. Video obtained by Reuters showed a section of its glass facade, high above the ground, had been destroyed by the impact.
“At the moment, experts are assessing the damage and the state of the infrastructure for the safety of people in the building. This will take some time,” Darya Levchenko, an adviser to the economy minister, said on Telegram. She said staff were working by video-conference.
UKRAINE SAYS DOCTOR KILLED IN RUSSIAN SHELLING OF KHERSON HOSPITAL
A doctor was killed and five medical workers were wounded in Russian shelling of a hospital in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson on Tuesday, regional officials said.
“Today at 11:10, the enemy launched another attack on the peaceful residents of our community,” military administration head Roman Mrochko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Photos posted by officials showed the bloodied floor of a balcony and a gaping hole in a roof with debris strewn over the floor.
Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said four medical workers had been wounded in addition to a badly wounded nurse whose injuries were reported earlier.
Mrochko said the young doctor had only worked in his job for a few days and that doctors were fighting for the life of the nurse. The surgery department of the facility was also damaged in the shelling, Prokudin said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the details of the reports.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said it had been working at the hospital supplying medical equipment and providing mental health consultations to people displaced by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.
“We unequivocally condemn this disgraceful attack on a medical facility and extend our condolences to the family of the doctor who died,” MSF said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
In a separate incident in the northeastern village of Pershotravneve, an elderly woman was killed and a man was wounded in Russian shelling around 12pm, Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram.
– ANNA PRUCHNICKA and Kyiv newsroom/Reuters
Moscow has come under repeated drone attacks since early May, when two drones were fired at the roof of a building in the Kremlin complex.
While the incidents have not caused casualties or major damage, they have provoked widespread unease and sit awkwardly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is proceeding according to plan.
“Indeed, a threat exists, it is obvious, but measures are being taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, declining to comment further.
Ukraine has drawn satisfaction from the attacks, though without directly claiming responsibility for them.
“Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
He said Russia should expect “more unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war”.
“No-one is safe”
Moscow residents Reuters spoke to near the site of the attack gave differing views on the risks they felt they faced.
“In this situation, any place can be hit, so it is quite hard to feel 100 per cent safe,” said Alexander Gusev, 67. “No one is safe in this situation because we don’t know what will hit us and where.”
Another resident, Kirill, 32, who declined to give his last name, said: “I feel safe. I’m originally from Donetsk (in eastern Ukraine), so I consider this a minor incident…You should just adjust your attitude and everything will be fine.”
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said it had thwarted the “attempted terrorist attack” and downed two drones west of the Moscow city centre.
It said another one was foiled by jamming equipment and went “out of control” before crashing into buildings in the Moskva-Citi business district.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said it hit the same tower that had been struck on Sunday. “The facade has been damaged on the 21st floor. Glazing was destroyed over 150 square metres,” he said.
A witness told Reuters: “We were going to see the tower where the explosion happened the day before yesterday…Suddenly there was this explosion, and we immediately ran. There were shards of glass, and then smoke rising. Then the security services starting running that way. The shards were really big.”
Vnukovo airport, one of three major airports serving the capital, briefly shut down but later resumed full operations.
There are signs that the incidents are causing some concern among Russian businesses. After the first drone hit Moskva-Citi on Sunday, tech company Yandex sent a memo to staff instructing them not to be in the office at night and urging them to “take care”.
