By Susie Blann -
The Associated Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered beefed up border security with Ukraine on Tuesday after several drones reached Russian territory, including one that crashed just 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Moscow, an alarming development for Russian defenses.
The drones left no casualties but raised questions about Russian security
more than a year after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the attacks.
Ukrainian authorities have so far not claimed responsibility for the incidents, but have previously avoided admitting direct responsibility for attacks or acts of sabotage while emphasizing that they have the right to hit any Russian targets due to Russia's invasion of their territory.
Although Putin did not mention the attacks in his speech in the Russian capital, his remarks came shortly after the drones struck several towns in southern and western Russia.
Authorities closed airspace over St. Petersburg in response to what some say was a drone.
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Also on Tuesday, several Russian TV channels broadcast a missile attack alarm, which authorities blamed on hacking.
Drone strikes on Monday night and Tuesday morning hit Russian regions near the Ukrainian border and deeper into Russian territory, according to local authorities.
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A drone went down near the village of Gubastovo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the region around the Russian capital, said in a statement.
The drone did not cause damage, said Vorobyov, who, although he did not attribute the fact to Ukraine, affirmed that it was probably against "the civilian structure."
Photos of the drone show that it is of a type made by Ukraine.
It is said to have a range of up to 800 kilometers (almost 500 miles), but it is not capable of carrying an explosive charge.
A resident of the Donetsk region, Ukraine, after a Russian shelling on Monday, February 27, 2023. Yevhen Titov / AP
Early Tuesday, Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said on the Telegram message service.
He said there were no casualties.
Also, three drones struck Russia's Belgorod region on Monday night and one flew through the window of an apartment in the regional capital, local authorities reported.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that
the drones caused minor damage to buildings and vehicles, but no casualties.
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Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine used drones to attack facilities in the Krasnodar region and neighboring Adygea.
He specified that they were shot down by means of electronic warfare, adding that one of them crashed in a meadow and another was diverted and did not reach the infrastructure it was targeting.
While Ukrainian drone strikes in the Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod, north of Ukraine's Sumy region, are not unusual, strikes against the Krasnodar and Adygea regions further south are notable.
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The Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti, reported a fire at an oil facility, and other Russian reports said two drones exploded nearby.
While Ukrainian drone strikes in the Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod have become commonplace, other attacks reflected a more ambitious effort.
Some Russian analysts described the drone strikes as an attempt by Ukraine to show its ability to attack areas far from the lines, foment tensions in Russia and harangue the Ukrainian people.
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Some Russian war bloggers described the raids as
a possible test run for a larger-scale and more ambitious attack
and demanded a forceful response.
Igor Korotchenko, a retired colonel in the Russian army and now a military analyst, called for a sweeping attack on the Ukrainian presidential office in kyiv.
Another retired military man, Viktor Alksnis, pointed out that
the drone attacks represent the expansion of the conflict
and criticized Putin for not having given a forceful response.
Also on Tuesday, authorities reported a temporary closure of the airspace around Saint Petersburg, Russia's second most populous city, halting all departures and arrivals at the city's main airport, Pulkovo.
The reason for the move was not explained, but some Russian reports claimed it had been triggered by the presence of an unidentified drone.
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The Russian Defense Ministry stated that air defense maneuvers were taking place in the west of the country.
Last year, the Russian authorities repeatedly reported the downing of Ukrainian drones over Crimea.
In December, the Russian military claimed that Ukraine had used drones to attack two long-range bomber bases on Russian soil.
In a speech to Russia's main security agency, the FSB, Putin urged the service to tighten security on the border with Ukraine.
In another development that stoked tensions across Russia on Tuesday, an air raid alarm disrupted the programming of several television channels and radio stations in various regions.
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Russia's Emergencies Ministry said in an online statement that the announcement was a hoax "resulting from hacking of the servers of radio stations and television channels in some regions of the country."
Meanwhile, The Associated Press analyzed satellite photos that apparently showed a warplane in Belarus that Belarusian guerrillas claim to have taken over.
The aircraft was practically intact.
High-resolution images taken Tuesday by Planet Labs PBC showed no immediate signs of damage to the Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft following what Belarusian opposition activists described as a Sunday morning attack on the airbase. from Machulishchy, on the outskirts of the capital Minsk.
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Belarusian activists supporting Ukraine claimed that the aircraft had been seriously damaged, but Russian and Belarusian authorities did not comment on the matter.
In Ukraine,
four people were killed and five others wounded on Tuesday as a result of new Russian attacks
on the southern city of Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Telegram.
A 68-year-old man was also killed after a Russian attack on Kupiansk, a town in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, its governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
The fiercest fighting continues to be in eastern Ukraine, where Russia wants control of the four provinces it illegally annexed in September.
Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces have deployed additional soldiers and equipment, including T-90 tanks, to those areas.
In a videotaped speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked American industrialists for their support for Ukraine and expressed hope for their help in rebuilding the country after the war.
Zelenskyy noted that the country faces a "colossal task" to restore hundreds of thousands of damaged places, including "entire cities, industries, productions."
