Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
in Moscow and were shot down. President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
was not present in the building at the time and no one was injured in the incident.
The Kremlin accused Ukraine of perpetrating the incident and called it an "act of terrorism" and an assassination attempt. Ukrainian officials denied involvement, while U.S. officials said it was likely that a Ukrainian intelligence or special military unit was behind the attack.
Incident
An unverified video posted on social media showed an object flying towards the Kremlin before a small explosion occurred near a flagpole on top of the
Kremlin Senate
The Kremlin Senate (The Senate Palace, ) is a building within the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia. Initially constructed from 1776 to 1787, it originally housed the Moscow branch of the Governing Senate, the highest judiciary and legisl ...
dome. In the footage, two unidentified people were seen climbing the dome. Another video showed smoke rising near the building.
Russian officials claimed that the two drones were disabled with electronic radar assets.
Reactions
Russia
On 3 May, Moscow's mayor
Sergey Sobyanin
Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician, serving as the 3rd mayor of Moscow since 21 October 2010. Sobyanin previously served as the governor of Tyumen Oblast (2001–2005), Head of the Russian presidential ad ...
announced a
no drone zone Regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) involves setting safety requirements, outlining regulations for the safe flying of drones, and enforcing action against errant users.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, is generally regulat ...
over the city.
Vyacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (, ; born 4 February 1964) is a Russian politician who currently serves as the 10th Chairman of the State Duma since 2016. He is a former aide to President Vladimir Putin.
The former Secretary-General of the Unit ...
, the speaker of Russia's
State Duma
The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
and ally of Putin, called the alleged drone attack a "terrorist attack" on Russia and compared the Ukrainian government to terrorist organizations such as
al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
and the
Islamic State
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
, saying that "The Nazi Kyiv regime must be recognised as a terrorist organisation." Volodin demanded the use of "weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime". Loyalist and Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet called for a retaliatory strike against Ukrainian President Zelensky.
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch. He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a ...
, the head of the Wagner military group, cautioned against the use of
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
s, saying that "We look like clowns threatening to use nuclear weapons in response to a child's drone."
Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov
Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012. Leading Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov compared the incident to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
.
Former president and the current head of Russia's
Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
,
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
, threatened that "After today's terrorist attack, there are no options left aside the physical elimination of Zelensky and his cabal." State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov said that "We should officially declare that all of the leadership of this terrorist nation is subject to being physically eliminated."
Moscow vowed to retaliate whenever and wherever it deems fit.
Russian dissidents
Former Russian politician
Ilya Ponomarev
Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev (, ; born 6 August 1975) is a Russian people, Russian-Ukrainian people, Ukrainian politician who was a member of the Russian State Duma from 2007 to 2016.
He was the only member of the State Duma not to vote in fa ...
claimed in a CNN interview that prior to the attack he had spoken with Russian resistance "anti-fascists" who carried it out. According to Ponomarev, the group originally planned the attack to occur on
Victory Day
Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...
, but in April there were discussions where he advised that the attack instead occur prior to the festivities, due the danger to parade crowds, and that because to the sacredness of the day, it might achieve the opposite result due to a
rally 'round the flag effect
The rally 'round the flag effect, also referred to as the rally 'round the flag syndrome, is a concept used in political science and international relations to explain increased short-run popular support of a country's government or political ...
. On his account, the goal of the 3 May drone attack was to force cancellation of the parade so that Russians would understand that the war was lost.
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
had nothing to do with the alleged attack on the Kremlin, that such actions achieved nothing for Kyiv on the battlefield, and would only provoke Russia to take more radical action. Podolyak said that the allegations that Kyiv was behind the incident, and Russia's arrest of alleged Ukrainian saboteurs in
Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, could indicate that Moscow was preparing for a large-scale "terrorist" attack against Ukraine in the coming days. Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
, while on a visit to Finland stated that, "We don't attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities." On 3 May 2023, Russian strikes on Ukraine's
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...
killed 21 people.
Other countries
U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State.
The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Antony Blinken
Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...
stated at a global press conference, "I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt." US officials were skeptical that any drone sent to Ukraine could have been used in the attack, as it would have to travel a long distance to reach Moscow. White House press secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre
Karine Jean-Pierre (born August 13, 1974) is an American political advisor who served as the White House Press Secretary, White House press secretary from May 2022 to January 2025, and a senior advisor to President Joe Biden from October 2024 t ...
said the US was "not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its border."Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
, said, "It certainly wasn't an attempt to assassinate Putin, because he doesn't sleep in the roof and he probably never sleeps in the Kremlin." James Nixey, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the
Chatham House
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...
think-tank, said "the two most likely possibilities are a 'warning shot across the bows' by Kyiv or a
false flag
A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...
operation by Moscow designed to justify more intense attacks in Ukraine or more conscription."
U.S. officials said it was likely that a Ukrainian intelligence or special military unit was behind the attack, though they had "low confidence" that the Ukrainian government directly authorized the attack due to U.S. intelligence agencies having not yet identified specific units or officials involved in the attack.
See also
*
Drone warfare
Drone warfare is a form of warfare using military drones or military robots. The robots may be remote controlled or have varying levels of autonomy during their mission. Types of robots include unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weapon ...
*
2022–2023 Western Russia attacks
There have been attacks in mainland Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022. The main targets have been the military, the arms industry and the oil industry. Many of the attacks have been drone ...
*
1999 Russian apartment bombings
In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, toget ...
*
2018 Caracas drone attack
On 4 August 2018, two drones detonated explosives near Avenida Bolívar, Caracas, where Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was addressing the Bolivarian National Guard in front of the Centro Simón Bolívar Towers and Palacio de Ju ...
, a similar incident with a drone targeting Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro
Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...
*
Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. Then a teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, without authorization. Accordi ...
, who landed a light aircraft near the Kremlin
*
2024 drone attack on Benjamin Netanyahu's residence
On 19 October 2024, a drone strike took place on the private residence of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the town of Caesarea, Israel. The attack was referred to as an assassination attempt by several news outlets and by Netanyahu ...