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KIEV, Feb. 28 (AP) — The Kremlin said drones launched by Ukraine penetrated deep into Russian territory, with one flying within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Moscow, signaling a breach in Russia’s defenses, President Vladimir Vernon said. Radimir Putin ordered increased protection at the border.
Officials said the drones caused no casualties or caused any major damage, but the Monday night and Tuesday morning attacks raised questions about the country’s defenses more than a year after Russia’s sweeping incursions into the neighboring country.
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Moscow blamed the attack on Kyiv. Ukrainian officials did not immediately claim responsibility, but they likewise avoided directly acknowledging responsibility for past attacks and destruction, while emphasizing Ukraine’s right to strike any target within Russia.
Although Putin did not mention any specific attacks in a speech in the Russian capital, his comments came hours after drone strikes hit several regions in southern and western Russia. Authorities closed airspace over St. Petersburg in response to some reports of a drone.
Also on Tuesday, several Russian television stations broadcast warnings of a missile attack that officials blamed on hacking.
According to Russian local authorities, the drone strikes targeted areas of Russian territory bordering Ukraine and beyond.
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the region around the Russian capital, said in an online statement that a drone landed in the village of Gustovo, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Moscow nearby.
The drone did not cause any damage, but it may have targeted “a civilian infrastructure object,” Vorobyov said.
Images of the drone showed it to be a small Ukrainian-made model that reportedly has a range of up to 800 kilometers (almost 500 miles), but cannot carry large amounts of explosives.
Russian forces shot down another Ukrainian drone earlier Tuesday in the Bryansk region, local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a cable.
Three drones also targeted Russia’s Belgorod region on Monday night, with one flying over an apartment window in the capital of the same name, local authorities reported. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the drone caused minor damage to buildings and cars.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said Ukraine used drones to attack facilities in the Krasnodar region and neighboring Adygea.
It said the drones were shot down by electronic warfare assets, adding that one crashed in a field and the other veered off its flight path, missing the infrastructure it was supposed to strike.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported a fire at the oil facility, and other Russian reports said two drones exploded nearby.
While Ukrainian drone strikes on the Bryansk and Belgorod regions on the Russian border have become routine, other attacks reflect its more ambitious efforts.
Some Russian commentators have described the drone attack as an attempt by Ukraine to demonstrate its ability to strike deep in the rear, heighten tensions in Russia and unite the Ukrainian public. Some Russian war bloggers described the raid as a possible rehearsal for a larger, more ambitious attack.
Russian hawks have called for strong reprisals. Igor Korotchenko, a retired Russian army colonel turned military commentator, called for a punitive strike against the office of Ukraine’s president in Kiev.
Victor Alkersnes, another retired military officer, noted that the drone strikes signaled a widening of the conflict and criticized Putin for failing to mount a forceful response.
Also on Tuesday, authorities reported that the airspace around Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, was temporarily closed, halting all movements at Pulkovo, the city’s main airport. It did not give a reason for the move, but some Russian reports said it was triggered by an unidentified drone.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it was conducting air defense exercises in western Russia.
Last year, Russian authorities repeatedly reported that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over annexed Crimea. In December, the Russian military said Ukraine had used drones to strike two long-range bomber bases deep inside Russian territory.
In a speech to Russia’s main security agency, the FSB, Putin urged the agency to increase security on Ukraine’s borders.
In another development that heightened tensions in Russia on Tuesday, air raid sirens disrupted several TV channels and radio stations in several regions. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said in an online statement that the announcement was a hoax “due to the hacking of the servers of radio stations and TV channels in certain regions of the country”.
Meanwhile, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a Russian warplane in Belarus, which Belarusian partisans claim is largely intact.
High-resolution images released by PBC Planet Labs on Tuesday showed no signs of immediate damage to Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft after what Belarusian opposition militants said was an attack on the Machulishchy air base outside the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday.
Pro-Ukrainian Belarusian militants claimed the plane was severely damaged, but Russian and Belarusian officials declined to comment on the claim.
In Ukraine, Russia again shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, killing four and wounding five, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said in a telegram.
A 68-year-old man was also killed when Russian troops shelled the town of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, its governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
The fiercest fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where Russia seeks control of all four provinces it illegally annexed in September.
Ukrainian officials say the Russian military has deployed more troops and equipment to the areas, including the latest T-90 main battle tanks.
In a video speech, Ukrainian President Zelensky thanked American businessmen for their support to Ukraine and expressed the hope that they would support Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.
Zelensky noted that the country faces the “tremendous task” of restoring hundreds of thousands of damaged sites, including “whole cities, industries and production”. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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