Early on the morning of July 7, five drones were shot down in New Moscow and the Moscow region. The message about this was published by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the official Telegram channel:
“This morning, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by five unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Moscow region and New Moscow was thwarted.”
According to the agency, four Ukrainian UAVs were shot down by air defense on the territory of New Moscow, another drone was “suppressed by means of electronic warfare” and fell in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region.
Around 6 am, local residents in these regions reported explosions. The Telegram channel Mash at 5:55 reported, citing eyewitnesses, about strong explosions in New Moscow, near the village of Valuevo, with an interval of about five minutes.
Moscow authorities also announced a repulsed drone attack on the city. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that another attempt was made to attack Ukrainian UAVs:
“Today, another attempt was made to attack Ukrainian drones in New Moscow and the Moscow region. At the moment, the attacks have been repelled by air defense forces, all detected UAVs have been eliminated. For security reasons, some flights have been temporarily redirected from Vnukovo Airport. At 8 am, restrictions on flights in the area of Vnukovo airport are lifted. There are no casualties or injuries, emergency services are working at the scene of the incident.”
Vnukovo Airport temporarily suspended the reception of flights due to the attack of drones, from 08:00 Vnukovo resumed its normal operation. Seven flights of Pobeda Airlines were redirected to land at Sheremetyevo due to restrictions at Vnukovo, TASS reported citing the company's press service.
Earlier, the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article “Terrorist attack” (Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) after an attempt by two drones to attack the Kremlin on May 3. After the incident, the Kremlin said that the Russian side "reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit." On the same day, Russian troops shelled Kherson and the Kherson region, 23 people were killed and 46 more were injured. Ukraine denies information from the Russian authorities about Kiev's involvement in the attack on Putin's residence. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev is defending its territories and will not attack Moscow or the President of the Russian Federation.The UN called on both sides to refrain from rhetoric and actions that could lead to escalation. Drone developer Sergei Tovkach told The Insider that these UAVs were launched not from Ukraine, but at most from the Moscow region, as evidenced by their size and the likely absence of a warhead. The UAVs were manually controlled and could use forbidden frequencies, Tovkach claims.