The raid against Moscow was “a special operation of the GUR”, military intelligence told AFP, citing a source in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The rare claim by Kiev, which usually denies or does not comment, comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised retaliatory measures following Russian bombings over Odessa this weekend that killed two people and damaged a church.
Russia is considering “severe reprisals” after the attacks on its capital and Crimea, and for its part Russian diplomacy has accused the West of being behind Kiev’s “shameful actions”.
The Moscow region has not been targeted by drones for nearly three weeks.
Condemning the “terrorist act”, the Russian military confirmed that two of the machines had been neutralized and had crashed without casualties.
One of the drones fell near the Russian Ministry of Defense on the main axis of Komsomolsky Prospekt in the Russian capital. AFP journalists saw a building with a damaged roof, several law enforcement vehicles and fire engines and an ambulance.
Another drone struck a shopping center on Likacheva Street in southern Moscow, where an AFP photographer spotted broken windows on top of a building near a store by French group Leroy Merlin.
“Total coffee junkie. Tv ninja. Unapologetic problem solver. Beer expert.”