(Dan Tri) – Ukraine denied being involved in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) raids on a series of targets on Russian territory, including the area near the Kremlin in Moscow.
A drone believed to belong to the Ukrainian army crashed on the outskirts of Moscow, about 120km from the Kremlin on February 28 (Photo: Getty).
`Ukraine did not attack Russian territory. Ukraine is only waging a defensive war to regain all territory,` Advisor to the President of Ukraine, Mr. Mykhailo Podolyak, wrote on Twitter on March 1 to refute the accusation.
On February 28, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of being involved in UAV attacks targeting infrastructure in several areas of Russian territory, including the Krasnodar region, the south of the country and the Moscow region.
Russian officials released images believed to be Ukrainian military UAVs falling on the outskirts of Moscow, near a gas compressor plant of the Gazprom Energy Group.
After these incidents, President Vladimir Putin ordered increased border protection, directed the Federal Security Service (FSB) to strengthen infrastructure protection, and stop sabotage groups from entering Russia.
Previously, Russia repeatedly accused Ukraine of being involved in UAV raids on targets on its territory.
Last December, Russia said that Ukraine used UAVs to attack two air bases deep within their territory, including the Engels-2 base in the Saratov area and the Dyagilevo base in Ryazan.
Experts are still struggling to find an answer as to how the UAVs got through the Russian air defense system.
`Russia is confident that it is always ready for NATO attacks when it possesses many military aerial vehicles and precision guided weapons. But in this case, what happened?`, Samuel Bendett,
Rob Lee, a Russian military expert and a senior scholar at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, commented: `If Russia’s radar and air defense system do not prevent UAVs flying hundreds of kilometers from attacking,