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On Monday, an upscale residential building near central Moscow was targeted by a drone.
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It is one of Ukraine’s deepest attacks on Moscow, which is preparing for a Victory Day military parade.
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Ukraine often launches such attacks to disrupt military parades, which this year will not feature equipment.
A Ukrainian drone struck a luxury high-rise tower in Moscow on Monday, a rare attack near the center of the Russian capital just days before this year’s Victory Day military parade.
Multiple videos posted on Russia’s Telegram news channel appeared to show debris strewn along a main road near Moscinet Towers, a two-building residential building about 4 miles from central Moscow.
Business Insider was unable to determine when the videos and photos were taken, but they are consistent with street markings and city layout near the Moscow Film Tower.
Another video showed emergency vehicles and traffic stopped at the intersection next to the complex.
The taller of the two buildings appeared to be the target, with photos showing visible damage to one of the upper floors of the 54-story tower.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the attack on Monday night, saying a drone struck a building on Mosfimovskaya Street. Sobyanin said no one was injured.
Monday’s attack on the Moscow Film Studio building was one of the worst attacks by Ukrainian drones on the heavily fortified Russian capital. The skyscraper is located in one of Moscow’s most affluent neighborhoods, along the road from major foreign embassies and nearby golf courses in the city center.
The strike comes five days before Russia holds an annual military parade to celebrate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany during World War II.
Over the past few years, Ukraine has sought to harass Moscow with drone strikes ahead of military parades, one of Russia’s biggest displays of military might.
Last year, as Moscow prepared to host dozens of world leaders for one of its most high-profile military parades, Kiev launched multiple drone strikes that disrupted local airports.
This year, the Kremlin said it would hold a scaled-down version of the parade that would not display key military equipment due to the war situation and the threat of attacks from Ukraine.
“This is very telling,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a summit in Armenia on Monday. “It shows that they are not strong now.”
Zelensky this month suggested drones posed a further threat to Moscow, saying Russian officials were “concerned that drones could hover over Red Square during the military parade.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down at least 117 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital on Sunday night.
Moscow is about 275 miles from the nearest Ukrainian border, and Kiev regularly uses fixed-wing drones to attack the capital.
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