Russia is bombing cities in Ukraine – and on Monday night in its capital Moscow itself was again the target of a counterattack with combat drones. The Russian Ministry of Defense blamed Ukraine for this. There was no confirmation from Kiev, although Ukrainian media, citing their own sources, attributed the attack to their country’s secret services. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said no one was injured in the two-drone attack. However, property damage occurred in the center of the Russian metropolis.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against its neighbor Ukraine for 17 months. On Monday night, Russian troops again attacked the Ukrainian region of Odessa on the Black Sea with combat drones. According to regional information, port facilities in Reni on the Danube, which is only a few hundred meters across the river from NATO member Romania, were also damaged. Ukraine continued its series of missile attacks on Russian ammunition depots on Moscow’s annexed Crimea peninsula.
In standard parlance, the Russian Defense Ministry called the drone strikes on Moscow a terrorist attack. According to the military, the flying objects were brought down with interference radio. Accordingly, a drone was discovered over the center, another in the south of the city. According to an employee of the emergency services, a high-rise office building was hit in the center. The Ministry of Defense and the headquarters of the military intelligence service GRU are located in the district.
Nevertheless, the Kremlin saw no reason to tighten security measures for Moscow. The security organs were already working at full speed, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Drones had previously been shot down over Moscow in early July. There had also been attacks from the air in May; according to video recordings, a drone had exploded directly over the Kremlin.
The drone attacks on the previously largely unmolested Ukrainian ports on the Danube mean a further escalation in Russia’s attempt to stop Ukrainian grain exports. The mayor of Reni, Ihor Plehov, spoke to Ukrainian media about three destroyed grain silos in his city.
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis condemned the Russian attacks on his country’s border. “This latest escalation poses serious security risks in the Black Sea,” he wrote on Twitter. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of “food terrorism” and called for a global response to the attacks.
Since Russia has again blocked Ukrainian grain exports via Odessa and other Black Sea ports, Ukraine has become even more dependent on the small ports on the Danube. About two million tons of agricultural products are currently exported via Reni and Izmail every month, according to the head of the Ukrainian grain association, Mykola Horbachev. Other exports are by rail or road. Despite the attacks, Horbachev hoped for an increase in transports.
Many African countries suffer from Russia’s war against Ukraine because they depend on grain and fertilizer from both countries. The blockade imposed by Russia is therefore making a Russian-African summit meeting in St. Petersburg from Thursday particularly explosive. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday that he wanted to advance a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine at the meeting. In June, an African delegation led by Ramaphosa traveled to Moscow and Kiev to mediate, but without any discernible success.
In the north of the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, a Russian ammunition depot was hit again on Monday, as Moscow-appointed governor Sergei Aksjonov announced on Telegram. Videos with a large cloud of smoke could be seen on social networks. Many camps and depots for supplying the Russian occupying forces in southern Ukraine are located in the region. Two ammunition depots in Crimea were hit in attacks last week.
In a seven-week counter-offensive in the east and south, Ukrainian troops have recaptured 227 square kilometers of land, according to Kiev military information on Monday. For comparison: This corresponds approximately to the area of the city of Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia. About a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, is still occupied by Russia.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin put into effect the higher age limit for reservists decided by parliament. Accordingly, the maximum limit for all ranks and categories is generally raised by five years. The raising of the reservist age was made primarily with regard to the war in Ukraine.
