At night, drones attacked the Russian capital

23 August, 2023 UAV strike the building of the Moscow-City business center, August 23, 2023. Footage from a video from social media On the night of August 23, drones once again attacked the Russian capital.

An explosion blasted out near the Moscow City business center, damaging a building. Russian Telegram channels, local authorities, and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reported on this. Russian media publishes a video featuring one drone hitting a high-rise building in Moscow.

The eyewitness footage shows a bright flash and a powerful explosion sound. Prior to that, late at night, it was announced that all airports in the Moscow region had been closed and the "Carpet" plan had been introduced, banning takeoffs and landings. It is deployed in cases of detection of unknown aircraft or other objects in the sky that may pose a threat to aviation flights.

At the same time, social media started reporting the alleged sighting of unidentified drones in the Moscow region. In particular, residents of Khimki, Krasnogorsk, and Dovgoprudny reported explosions, allegedly caused by Russian air defense. Social media users reported that the wreckage of the downed drone was discovered on a street in the village of Starbeevo near Moscow.

The wall of a shop in Khimki was also damaged, and windows in a nearby residential building were smashed. Subsequently, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin claimed that the air defense shot down one of the drones, while the other hit the Moscow City building.

According to him, the building was allegedly slightly damaged. No casualties have been reported. The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed the attack of three UAVs. The air defense systems allegedly destroyed two of them over the territory of the Mozhaysky and Khimki districts of the Moscow region.

It is stated that the third UAV was suppressed by electronic warfare and lost control, and collided with the building of the Moscow City business center.

Damage to the railway station in Kursk.

Photo: Roman Starovoit

On the night of August 20, Moscow, Rostov, and Kursk were also attacked by unidentified drones.