Ian Payne 4am - 7am
Powerful explosion rocks central Moscow as Ukrainian drone downed near Kremlin
18 August 2023, 08:43
A powerful explosion rocked central Moscow today after a suspected kamikaze drone strike was launched on the city’s business district.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The Kremlin said a UAV drone was blown up by air defences.
Fragments of the downed drone hit the Moscow Expo Centre on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment, at the edge of the city's skyscraper zone which has been previously targeted by Ukraine.
Video footage shows a large explosion over the city and further images show significant damage to the expo centre. Major airports were temporarily closed.
A drone attack on Moscow last night. An expocenter was hit, Russian authorities reported.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 18, 2023
Vnukovo airport was closed off for flights after that. pic.twitter.com/2Z5YAEO7NN
Moscow described the latest strike as ‘another terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle against targets in Moscow'.
A statement said: “The UAV changed its flight trajectory after being hit by air defence weapons and crashed into a non-residential building near Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow.
“There were no casualties or fires.”