Everything we know about the Ukrainian drone downed south of Moscow

On March 26th, Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over a small town just south of Moscow according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Defense. 

In a statement on the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Telegram channel, officials accused Ukraine of planning a strike and provided details on how the drone was shot down. 

"A Polye-21 electronic unit took action against the Ukrainian drone, and as a result, its navigation system was taken out of action," Russia’s Ministry of Defense wrote.

Photo by Twitter @RALee85

"The drone lost its directional command and fell near the town of Kireyevsk in Tula region," the statement added.

Photo by Twitter @RALee85

The Russian News Agency, often abbreviated as TASS, reported that law enforcement found fragments of the downed drone, which revealed the model of the weapon. 

Photo by Twitter @RALee85

"Investigators have found fragments of the Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh UAV at the blast site in Kireyevsk," a spokesman for local law enforcement told TASS. 

The Russian News Agency also reported that three people were injured with two men receiving fragmentation wounds and one more person receiving minor injuries.

The downed drone also caused a significant amount of collateral property destruction, damaging three apartment complexes and four houses in Kireyevsk.

Photo by Twitter @clashreport

“Social media videos and pictures showed a muddy crater near a building with its roof and walls heavily damaged,” a Reuters report noted. 

Photo by Twitter @clashreport

“Shards of glass from broken windows spread across the stairwell of a nearby apartment block,” the report continued, noting the images and videos could not be independently verified. 

Photo by Twitter @clashreport

The downing occurred at roughly 3:20 pm local time but few details were given about the ultimate destination of the drone attack, though Moscow could have been a likely target. 

Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the would-be attack according to BBC News, and could very well be the culprits based on the type of drone that was used. 

The downed drone was said to be a Tupolev Tu-141 Strizh, the same type of weapon used by Ukrainian forces in late December to strike Engels Air Base deep inside Russian territory. 

Photo: Bernhard Gröhl, Own work, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M-141_Cruise_Missile.JPG

During the December attacks, three servicemen and technical staff were killed, and a number of strategic bombers were damaged according to a Reuters report from the time.

Drone attacks inside Russia have become an increasing problem for the country’s leadership. In February, two probable Ukrainian drones targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure were downed near a Gazprom facility in Gubastovo.

“The appearance of the drone matches that of the UJ-22 Airborne,” wrote George Wright of BBC News, “a product of Ukrainian manufacturer Ukrjet,” the journalist continued before adding that it had an operational range of roughly 500 miles.