‘Ukrainian kamikaze drone’ crashes down near gas plant just 68 miles from the Kremlin as Putin demands tighter security

Images appear to depict a UJ-31 ‘loitering munitions’ kamikaze flying bomb
The drone came down near the village of Kolomna

Daily Mail, By JAMES CALLERY FOR MAILONLINE, 1 March 2023

A drone crashed just 68 miles from the Kremlin today in a suspected ‘failed attack’ by Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered officials to tighten control of the border with Ukraine after a spate of drone attacks delivered a new challenge to Moscow more than a year after the invasion of its neighbour.

While Putin did not refer to any specific attacks in a speech in Moscow, his comments came hours after drones targeted several areas in southern and western Russia and authorities closed the airspace over St Petersburg in response to what some reports said was a drone.

Images shared online appear to depict a Ukrainian UJ-31 ‘loitering munitions’ kamikaze flying bomb after it crashed down near a gas plant more than 300 miles from the border.

It came down near the village of Kolomna hours after Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of two attempted drone strikes in the south 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 Moscow since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

It is also the deepest inside Russian territory any suspected Ukrainian drone has been spotted.

Postings on Russian social media showed the broken grey metal drone in a snowdrift in a woodland area.

Regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said the drone appeared to have been intended to hit a ‘civil infrastructure facility’ but noted that there was no damage.

He said the FSB security agency was handling the situation and there was no threat to residents.

There is a gas compressor plant close to the crash site.

Reports claimed the low-flying drone may have clipped trees.

Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of sending attack drones towards civil infrastructure targets in the southern regions of Adygea and Krasnodar.

It said its electronic anti-drone jamming systems had caused them to 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.’

……………………………………………… While Ukrainian drone strikes on the Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod that lie north of Ukraine’s Sumy region are not unusual, the hits on the Krasnodar and Adygea regions further south are noteworthy.

…………… Ukrainian authorities offered no immediate acknowledgement or comment on the reported strikes.

Last year, Russian authorities repeatedly reported shooting down Ukrainian drones over annexed Crimea. In December, the Russian military said Ukraine used drones to hit two bases for long-range bombers deep inside Russian territory.

Separately, the local government of St Petersburg – Russia’s second-largest city 800 miles north of the border with Ukraine – said early on Tuesday that it was temporarily halting all flight departures and arrivals at the city’s main airport, Pulkovo. It did not give a reason for the move.

Hours earlier, unconfirmed reports on Russia’s Telegram social network referred to the air space over St Petersburg being shut down and to Russian warplane overflights. It was not immediately clear whether this was connected to the alleged rise in drone attacks in Russia’s south……………………… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11803571/Ukrainian-kamikaze-drone-crashes-near-gas-plant-just-68-miles-Kremlin.html