A military drone attempted to strike a gas facility in the Moscow region, according to a senior Russian official, and photos of the wreckage suggested it was Ukrainian-made, indicating a rare attempted strike hundreds of miles behind Russian lines.
The alleged attack was one of several reports of successful or attempted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strikes in at least four regions of Russia.
The Moscow region governor, Andrei Vorobyov, on Monday confirmed a UAV crash-landed in the village of Gubastovo near the capital and was apparently aiming for a “civilian infrastructure site”.
The target was a Gazprom gas compression station in the Moscow suburbs, just over 50 miles south-east of the Kremlin. Photographs of the drone posted to social media indicate it was a Ukrainian-made UJ-22.
Ukraine does not publicly claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
The UAV apparently clipped trees just before its target and landed 10 metres from the outer fence of the gas compression station, a Gazprom representative confirmed to Russian media.
Ukrjet, the producer of the UJ-22, claims the drone can fly 500 miles (800km) and is armed with an interchangeable payload.
If the strike, along with others on Tuesday, were launched from Ukrainian territory, then it would make them some of the most ambitious since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion last February.
Drone strikes launched in December targeted several airfields used by Russian bombers but it was not immediately clear if they were launched from inside or outside Russian territory.
The strikes caused a nervous day in Russia, where airspace was closed over St Petersburg and hackers managed to broadcast a “missile strike threat” over several TV channels and radio stations in the Moscow and St Petersburg regions, as well as areas closer to the border with Ukraine, Voronezh and Belgorod.
“Attention: an air alert is in effect,” a voice read. “Proceed to shelters immediately. Attention, attention, missile strike threat.” A similar incident occurred late last week.
In at least one case, the drones appeared to have struck their targets. Early Tuesday morning, drones armed with explosives also slammed into a Rosneft oil depot in the Krasnodar region, Russian media reported, sparking a fire that required the Russian emergencies ministry to extinguish. Video published on Telegram also appeared to show UAVs flying over the city shortly before the attack.
The drone strikes hit the boiler room of the depot, the Astra news outlet reported. But the city administration of Tuapse, where the facility is located, claimed the drones did not strike the oil tanks. “There is no oil spill. There are no victims,” the city administration said.
Tuapse is about 300 miles from Ukrainian territory and close to the large Russian port of Novorossiysk and the Black Sea city of Sochi.
Unsuccessful drone strikes were also reported in Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions, both on the border with Ukraine. And the head of Russia’s Adigeya also reported that a drone was downed in the region last night.
As regional heads confirmed the drone strikes, Russia closed its airspace over St Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city, in what the government claimed was a drill to simulate the discovery of an enemy UAV flying over the region.
Dozens of flights were cancelled or turned back as St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport was closed to arriving and departing flights. Some early reports said a drone had also been spotted near St Petersburg, but those have not been confirmed.
