Kyiv
Hours after the Kremlin accused Kyiv of targeting Moscow with drones, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said “War is slowly returning to Russia.” In a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk on Sunday, Zelensky said today was the 522nd day of a “special military operation” that the Russian leadership thought would last for several weeks. “War is gradually returning to the territory of Russia. To its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and proper process.” Russia calls its attack a ‘special military operation’.
The Russian Defense Ministry said three drones were intercepted on Sunday, but a commercial and shopping development west of the capital was affected. CNN reported via state news agency TASS that the fifth and sixth floors of the 50-story building were damaged and there were no reports of injuries. The video shows emergency services at the scene along with debris. Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the latest drone strikes on Moscow were aimed at impressing Russians who thought the war was far away.
Ihnat said on Ukrainian television, “There is always something flying in Russia as well as in Moscow.” Now the war is affecting people who were not worried.” According to a report by CNN, Ukrainian Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said that Kyiv would face more drone strikes as retaliation intensified over the summer, to push Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the July 24 attack, which targeted two non-residential buildings, including one near the Defense Ministry headquarters. Meanwhile, a Russian missile attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on July 29 killed 20 people, while a rocket attack on Zaporizhia killed two others. Ukrainian drones also targeted the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula on Sunday.
