Moscow accuses Ukraine of multiple attempted drone strikes deep inside

Russian territory

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused Ukraine of launching a spate of

attempted drone strikes targeting infrastructure deep inside Russia, including near
the capital, after a fire broke out at an oil depot and authorities abruptly closed
airspace above the country’s second-largest city.

Moscow region Gov. Andrey Vorobyov claimed a Ukrainian drone had crashed
near the village of Gubastovo southeast of the capital. The drone was apparently
aimed at what he called “civilian infrastructure,” later confirmed to be a gas
facility operated by state-owned company Gazprom.

The facility remained undamaged, state media reported, citing the region’s Energy
Ministry.

State media later posted a photograph of what it said was the crashed device, which
appeared to resemble a Ukrainian-made UJ-22 attack drone.

The UJ-22 is relatively small and versatile, able to fly through poor weather and to
travel up to 500 miles (800 kilometers). It’s unclear where or when the photo of the
crashed drone was taken.

The crash was allegedly one of several attempted strikes, with state media
reporting a drone was shot down near the Belarus border and the defense ministry
claiming two more strikes were thwarted through the use of drone-jamming
technology in the Krasnodar and Adygea regions.

At least one drone appeared to have evaded Russian defenses, with footage posted
on social media overnight and geolocated by CNN showing a fire at energy firm
Rosneft’s oil depot in Tuapse, on Krasnodar’s Black Sea coast.

It’s unclear if the facility was the intended target, but Ukraine has previously
targeted oil depots within Russian-controlled territory.