‘Ukrainian kamikaze drone’ crashes near gas plant just 68 miles from Putin’s Kremlin office in closest attack to Moscow
A DRONE crashed just 68 miles from Putin's office in the Kremlin today in a suspected "failed attack" by Ukraine.
Pictures shared online appear to show a Ukrainian UJ-31 "loitering munitions" kamikaze flying bomb after it came down near a gas plant more than 300 miles from the border.
It crashed near the village of Kolomna hours after Russia's Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of two attempted drone strikes in south of the country overnight.
Ukraine does not publicly claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
If it was behind the Kolomna drone, it would be its closest attempted strike to the Russian capital Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago.
It is also the deepest inside Russian territory any suspected Ukrainian drone has been spotted.
Postings on Russian social media showed the grey metal wreckage of a drone lying in a snowdrift by the edge of a wood said to be near Kolomna.
Regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said the drone appeared to have been intended to strike a "civil infrastructure facility" but there was no damage.
He said the FSB security agency was dealing with the situation and there was no danger to residents.
A gas compressor plant is near the crash site. Reports claimed the low-flying drone may have clipped trees.
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Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of launching attack drones towards civil infrastructure targets in the southern regions of Krasnodar and Adygea.
It said its electronic anti-drone jamming systems had caused the craft to veer off course and miss their targets.
The ministry said: "Both drones lost control and deviated from their flight paths.
"One fell into a field, the other, deviating from its trajectory, did not harm the intended target."
It comes weeks after Vladimir Putin deployed air defence missile systems on Moscow rooftops fearing drone attacks were getting closer.
One Pantsir-S1 system was pictured six miles from Putin’s official residence outside Moscow.
Another was near his secret forest palace, allegedly to protect the fearful president's family from drones and missiles.
Advanced longer range S-400 systems were also stationed around Moscow.
Often used in tandem with Pantsir, they are used to bring down aerial threats including aircraft as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.
They can reach altitudes up to 30km and shoot down 80 targets at the same time.
In early December, it was reported that Ukrainian special forces hid in Russian territories to guide drone blitzes.
Shocking footage showed an explosion and a huge fireball at the military airbase in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
Suspected Ukrainian drones also targeted the Belbek military airport in Sevastopol - but were reportedly downed by air defences.
Last year two of Putin's nuclear bombers were blown up in a suspected Ukrainian drone attack.
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In early December, Russia said three military personnel had been killed in alleged Ukrainian drone attacks on two air bases hundreds of miles from the front lines in Ukraine.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities.
