UPDATE - Drone attack in Moscow damages several buildings with no casualties

ADDS RESPONSE BY UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER, FURTHER COMMENTS BY MOSCOW MAYOR

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia said early Tuesday that a drone attack damaged several buildings in Moscow, blaming Ukraine for using eight unmanned aerial vehicles that were shot down.

“Early this morning, a UAV attack caused minor damage to several buildings. All emergency services of the city are at the scene of incidents. They find out the circumstances of what happened,” Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram.

There were no casualties reported in the attack, he added.

However, he said that measures were taken during the work of emergency services to evacuate residents in two houses hit by drones.

A later statement by Sobyanin said that two people sought medical attention but they were not hospitalized.

Sobyanin later confirmed that some residents have begun to return to their homes, and that he has directed specialists to repair minor structural damage to buildings as soon as possible.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine was behind the drone attack, claiming that eight aircraft-type drones were employed in the attack, all of which were shot down.

“Three of them were suppressed by electronic warfare, lost control, and deviated from the intended targets. Five more UAVs were shot down by the Pantsir-S SAM system in Moscow region,” it added.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine's presidential adviser, commented on the incident, claiming that the drones "wanted to return to their creators."

"It is very important to understand. You know, we are being drawn into the era of artificial intelligence. Perhaps not all drones are ready to attack Ukraine and want to return to their creators," Podolyak said on a local broadcaster's breakfast show.