Ukraine Issues Warning to Moscow Residents: ‘Expect More, Daily Attacks’

Kyiv has warned those living in Moscow to expect more attacks, adding the Russian capital’s air defenses appear incapable of protecting its citizens as the drone war between the two countries continues to escalate.

After a dramatic increase in Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks, Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), told Kyiv Post, that the “the concept of security is increasingly distant from the residents of Moscow.”

“He added: “The whole world continues to see that the Russian defense system and the country – which claims a leading role in the arms market – is ineffective, outdated, and cannot adequately respond to modern challenges.”

Yusov said this is a symptom of President Putin’s leadership which “continues to lead to the degradation of the state management system.”

He added: “Perhaps this trend will lead the residents of Moscow to some correct conclusions – whether or not to believe Russian television and Russian propaganda, and whether or not to continue to support the criminal regime.”

Yusov’s comments came shortly after an explosion was reported on the Karamyshevskaya embankment near Moscow on Friday morning.

“From 10:50 a.m. (07:50 GMT) the restrictions on flights were removed. At the current time the airport is working normally,” an airport source told the Russian state media outlet TASS.

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Three attacks in Moscow and another in St. Petersburg on Saturday were aimed at shopping malls, post offices and a bank, causing panic and some damage.

Russia’s defense ministry later said it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the western outskirts of Moscow, the latest in a growing number of aerial attacks on the capital.

“This afternoon, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted,” the defense ministry said in a statement, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.

It’s just the latest attack in an escalating drone war between Russia and Ukraine.

But while Moscow has been launching drones since October with decreasing effectiveness due to Ukraine’s ever-improving air defenses, Kyiv has only recently started attacking Moscow which has appeared largely unprepared to defend itself.

Ukraine’s drones have been regularly reaching the capital and causing damage though in relatively small numbers compared to Russia’s mass attacks.

Yusov however, suggested this could change, saying: “Given the dynamics of recent months, the number, geography and intensity, it would be logical to assume an increase in daily attacks.”

Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence. PHOTO: Ukrinform.

He added that there is also a “certain justice” in Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes, saying: “As a result of the Putin’s criminal and genocidal war against Ukraine, Ukrainians are deprived of the opportunity to use air transportation, airplanes and our airports do not work or are destroyed.

“Today, Muscovites can feel something similar.”

In Moscow on Friday morning, Artemy Dusilov, a 21-year-old tech student who biked with a friend to see where the drone had fallen, told AFP: "Drones are flying yet again above Moscow.

"They keep us in fear a bit."