Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says it disrupted an alleged Ukrainian-directed attack using first-person-view drones against a key element of Moscow’s missile-defence system and an electricity facility. Two men from the South Caucasus region were arrested while preparing the operation, which would have involved launching the explosive-carrying aircraft from inside Russia and controlling them remotely from Ukraine.
The FSB alleged that the suspects retrieved drones and explosives from hidden caches in the Smolensk and Kaluga regions before transporting the equipment to the Moscow region. The agency did not identify the missile-defence installation or electricity facility. It also alleged that Ukraine’s SBU security service directed the operation and recruited one of the men for payment.
The arrests reportedly took place before any attack was carried out. Russia provided no independently verifiable evidence of Ukrainian intelligence involvement, and neither Kyiv nor the SBU had immediately commented.
The alleged plan differs from long-range drone raids launched from Ukrainian territory because the aircraft would have been positioned inside Russia, reducing the distance they needed to fly through Russian air defences. The disclosure followed repeated disruptions at Moscow’s airports. On 23 October, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky temporarily suspended arrivals and departures as Russian air defences engaged drones approaching the capital.