Ukrainian drones hit two buildings in Moscow and an ammunition depot in Russian-annexed Crimea on Monday, Russian officials said, as Ukraine reported another Russian strike on a grain facility.Russia said it had neutralized two Ukrainian drones over Moscow during the night, with no casualties reported.One of the drones crashed close to the defense ministry in the center of the Russian capital, while the other hit an office building in southern Moscow.The attacks came a day after Kyiv vowed to “retaliate” for a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa.“It is scandalous that a Ukrainian drone almost flew into the defense ministry,” said Vladimir, a 70-year-old resident, who declined to give his last name, as he took pictures at the scene.

In Crimea, Moscow-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said Russian forces shot down 11 Ukrainian drones.

He said an ammunition depot was “hit” and a private house “damaged”, without providing further details. He added that villages near the depot were being evacuated.

A police car is seen parked in front of a damaged business centre on Likhacheva Street after a reported drone attack in Moscow on July 24, 2023. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has been targeted by Kyiv throughout Moscow’s Ukraine offensive but has come under more intense, increased attacks recently.

Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials reported a four-hour Russian drone attack on port infrastructure on the Danube River.The Danube delta region, which spans across Romania and Ukraine, is being used as an export route for Ukrainian grain.

Russia last week pulled out of a key deal which had allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Since then, Kyiv has accused Russia of targeting grain supplies and infrastructure vital to grain exports.

Ukraine’s military said it shot down three of the drones used in Monday’s attack

Russia’s defense ministry branded the Moscow drone attack a “terrorist act”. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drone strikes occurred at around 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT).

Earlier this month, Russia said it had downed five Ukrainian drones that disrupted the functioning of Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport.

After Russian strikes on Odesa, President Volodymyr Zelensky had vowed retaliation on Sunday.

“We cannot allow people around the world to get used to terrorist attacks,” Zelensky added.

A strike in the city on Sunday killed two people and severely damaged a historic cathedral.

Clergymen rescued icons from rubble inside the badly damaged Transfiguration Cathedral, which was demolished under Stalin in 1936 and rebuilt in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian government condemned the cathedral strike as a “war crime”, saying it had been “destroyed twice: by Stalin and Putin”.

Lyne Sammouri, with AFP