A HUGE explosion rocked Moscow today after a suspected Ukrainian kamikaze drone blasted a building just three miles from the Kremlin.
Footage showed flames and a column of black smoke rising from the Moscow Expocentre after the strike.
The drone hit and damaged the Moscow ExpocentreEast2West
AFPThe damaged Expocentre building following a drone attack in Moscow[/caption]
The building sits on the edge of the city’s skyscraper zone which was previously targeted by Ukraine.
Video showed a massive explosion and flash as the drone hit the low building – which is close to main White House office building of the Russian government.
All airports in the city were temporarily closed.
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed air defences had “destroyed” the drone and the falling debris caused “no significant damage” to the building.
But footage showed an explosion at the Expocentre, around one mile from the British Embassy in Moscow.
And pictures showed a huge hole in the side of the building.
According to reports, one of the outside walls of the centre – used for conferences and conventions – had partially collapsed.
Witnesses said the attack sparked “a powerful explosion”.
A local resident said: “We live in the tower opposite, on the 68th floor. We heard a bang and saw a flash.
“At first we thought it had hit the Federation Tower, but it turned out to be the Expocentre.
“We could see a column of smoke from our windows.”
Another eyewitness said: “We were sitting on the embankment at the time – we didn’t see the drone itself, but we heard a very loud noise, then smoke was billowing from the other side.”
The Russian defence ministry said the 4am drone strike was “another terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle against targets in Moscow”.
It said: “The UAV changed its flight trajectory after being hit by air defence weapons and crashed into a non-residential building near Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow.
“There were no casualties or fires.”
Initial reports suggested the drone had come close to the 1,226ft Federation Tower – the Russian capital’s tallest tower.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY…
The Sun is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
Download our fantastic, new and improved free App for the best ever Sun Online experience. For iPhone click here, for Android click here.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSun and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.