:RUSSIAN: Blast in Moscow City district shatters glazing, people are evacuated – Flights were briefly suspended from Vnukovo Airport
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Flights were briefly suspended from Vnukovo Airport, southwest of the city centre, and incoming planes were redirected to other airports.
Russia has accused Ukraine of a drone attack on Moscow that damaged two buildings and briefly shut one of the city’s airports.
Flights were briefly suspended from Vnukovo Airport, southwest of the city centre, and incoming planes were redirected to other airports.
In a statement, the defence ministry said the “attempted terrorist attack” had been “thwarted”.
A drone was shot down over the Odintsovo district, west of the city centre, and two others were neutralised but crashed into offices, Russia’s defence ministry says.
One person has been injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reports.
Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged the incident.
The city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the facades of two office buildings were slightly damaged.
A blast took place in a building located in the Moscow City district, emergency services told TASS.
“The glazing was shattered as a result of the blast at the level of fifth and sixth floors of the 50-story building on Presnenskaya embankment,” the source said. There are no casualties and no fire has started. The people are being evacuated. Operational services and law enforcement agencies arrived on the scene.
One eyewitness, who only gave her first name as Liya, told Reuters news agency she could see fire and smoke.
“We heard an explosion and it was like a wave, everyone jumped,” she said.
“Then there was a lot of smoke and you couldn’t see anything. From above, you could see fire.”
Earlier, law enforcement agencies reported that the Air Defense Troops repelled an attack by two aircraft-type drones in the west of the Moscow Region. In addition, eyewitnesses report the sounds of an explosion in the west of Moscow.
The drone attack in the early hours of Sunday is the latest that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv. Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
Moscow, located about 500km (310 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has rarely been targeted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But Russia has accused Ukraine of launching a series of drone strikes on its territory in recent months, including several on the capital.
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