Putin Says Ukraine Drone Strikes on Moscow Aim to Scare and Provoke Russia

A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
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Putin Says Ukraine Drone Strikes on Moscow Aim to Scare and Provoke Russia

A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine's biggest ever drone strike on Moscow was an attempt to scare and provoke Russia, and air defenses around the capital would be strengthened.

Russia said eight drones targeted civilian areas of Moscow and the Moscow region - with a population of over 21 million - in the early hours of Tuesday but were either shot down or diverted with special electronic jammers.

Putin cast the assault, which brought the 15-month war in Ukraine to the heart of Russia, as a terrorist response that came after Russia struck at Ukraine's military intelligence headquarters several days ago.

Ukraine, Putin said, had chosen the path of attempting "to intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings".

"This is clearly a sign of terrorist activity," he said.

Air defenses around Moscow - which as the capital of the world's biggest nuclear power is already protected by an extensive early warning system - would be strengthened, he said.

A Ukrainian presidential aide denied Kyiv was directly involved in the Moscow attack, but said Ukraine was enjoying watching events and forecast more to come.

"Of course, we are pleased to watch and predict an increase in the number of attacks. But of course, we have nothing directly to do with this," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

There is little sign of peace in one of the deadliest wars in Europe since World War Two, and Moscow has repeatedly warned that the West is escalating the war by supplying Kyiv with so much weaponry.

Moscow under attack

Drone attacks deep inside Russia have intensified in recent weeks with strikes on oil pipelines and even the Kremlin earlier this month. Ukraine denied the Kremlin attack, but The New York Times reported that US intelligence believes Kyiv was responsible.

Drone debris hit some of Moscow's most prestigious areas including Leninsky Prospekt, a grand avenue crafted under Josef Stalin, and the area of western Moscow where the Russian elite - including Putin - have their residences.

Residents in south-western Moscow said they heard loud bangs at around 0200 to 0300 GMT, followed by the smell of petrol. Some filmed a drone being shot down and a plume of smoke rising over the Moscow skyline.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two people were injured, one of whom was hospitalized, in the early morning attack. Moscow's airports remained open. No deaths were reported.

Russia at war

So far Putin has kept the war in Ukraine far from Moscow, where life has continued relatively normally despite the biggest rupture in Russia's ties with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russia began attacking the Ukrainian capital with swarms of cheaply produced loitering munitions often known as “kamikaze drones” last October and uses them extensively during its regular air strikes across Ukraine.

Prosecutors said incidents occurred in the Odintsovsky District of western Moscow region - where Putin has his Novo-Ogaryovo state residence. The area, the most expensive in Russia, is the home to the country's elite.

Russian state television gave the attacks calm coverage. Many Muscovites carried on with their lives with the fatalism for which they are famous.

On a warm spring day in the city center, residents could be seen taking selfies in front of the Bolshoi Theater while others relaxed in cafes and shopped in the well-stocked luxury stores of Moscow.

Putin has repeatedly cast the conflict in Ukraine as a struggle with what he says is an arrogant and aggressive West which is risking a global war by supporting Ukraine.

Thus far, the war has been described by the Kremlin as a "special military operation". The United States has repeatedly said it does not want a war with Russia and has said Ukraine should not use Western weapons to attack inside Russia.

Russian lawmakers cautioned that there were likely to be more attacks on Moscow, which many said would make it necessary to give the military and security agencies even greater powers.

"The sabotage and terrorist attacks of Ukraine will only increase," said Alexander Khinshtein, from the ruling United Russia bloc.

"It is necessary to radically strengthen defense and security measures, especially in terms of countering drones. This includes finally passing the necessary laws."



Millions of South Koreans Vote in Presidential Poll Overshadowed by Martial Law Crisis 

 A girl casts her mother’s vote at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A girl casts her mother’s vote at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
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Millions of South Koreans Vote in Presidential Poll Overshadowed by Martial Law Crisis 

 A girl casts her mother’s vote at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A girl casts her mother’s vote at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, 03 June 2025. (EPA)

South Koreans turned out in force to vote in the presidential election on Tuesday, as millions of people sought to restore stability after six months of turmoil triggered by a shock martial law briefly imposed by former leader Yoon Suk Yeol.

The new president will face the challenge of rallying a society deeply scarred by the attempt at military rule and an export-heavy economy reeling from unpredictable protectionist moves by the United States, a major trading partner and a security ally.

As of 3 p.m., 30.5 million people, or nearly 69% of the electorate, had voted at 14,295 locations, according to the National Election Commission, with car dealerships, gyms and fields for traditional Korean wrestling known as ssireum turned into polling stations.

"I hope the issues surrounding martial law are addressed more clearly and transparently," said 40-year-old Seoul resident Kim Yong-Hyun. "There are still many things that don't make sense, and I'd like to see them properly resolved."

Turnout in the snap election was running slightly ahead of the 2022 presidential vote at the same time, with polls set to remain open until 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) and following early voting when more than a third of the 44.39 million eligible voters cast their ballots.

"Only six golden hours are left to save South Korea which is in crisis due to the greed of the establishment," liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung said as he urged people to vote in a Facebook post.

Both Lee and his conservative rival Kim Moon-soo have pledged change for the country, saying a political system and economic model set up during its rise as a budding democracy and industrial power are no longer fit for purpose.

Their proposals for investment in innovation and technology often overlap, but Lee advocates more equity and help for mid-to low-income families while Kim has campaigned on giving businesses more freedom from regulations and labor strife.

Overshadowing any social policy initiatives, however, is Yoon's botched attempt to impose martial law that has loomed large over the poll.

Lee has called the election "judgment day" against Kim and his People Power Party accusing them of having condoned the martial law attempt by not fighting harder to thwart it and even trying to save Yoon's presidency.

Kim was Yoon's labor minister when the former president declared martial law on December 3.

The conservative Kim, on the other hand, has branded Lee a "dictator" and his Democratic Party a "monster," warning if the former human rights lawyer becomes president, nothing will stop them from working together to amend laws simply because they do not like them.

"I and the People Power Party will do our best to save people's livelihoods and the economy," Kim said in a Facebook post.

'POLARIZED'

The frontrunner Lee and his rival Kim cast their ballots during early voting last week. Yoon and his wife voted at a school near their private residence on Tuesday, appearing relaxed but ignoring questions as they left the polling station.

Regular voters in Seoul urged the next leader to ease discord, restore stability and address urgent challenges from the fallout of the crisis that has touched their families.

"The economy has gotten so much worse since December 3, not just for me but I hear that from everybody," Kim Kwang-ma, 81, said. "And we as a people have become so polarized... and I wish we could come together so that Korea can develop again."

Lee is favored to win, according to polls released a week before the vote, leading Kim by 14 percentage points with 49% public support in a Gallup Korea survey, although Kim had narrowed an even wider gap at the start of the campaign on May 12.

Exit polls conducted by three television networks will be released at the close of the polls at 8 p.m. Ballots will be sorted and counted by machine first, then triple-checked by election officials by hand to verify accuracy.

It was not clear when the result would emerge. In 2022, Lee conceded to Yoon at around 3 a.m. the day after the vote in the closest presidential race in the country's history, which was decided by a margin of less than 1 percentage point.

The National Election Commission is scheduled to certify the result on Wednesday and the winner's inauguration is expected within hours. There will be no presidential transition as the office has remained vacant since Yoon was impeached by parliament and then removed by the Constitutional Court on April 4.