Vladimir Putin has called Tuesday’s drone attack in Moscow a “terrorist” act by Ukraine.
Kyiv has denied responsibility for the assault but what can be learnt from the evidence online?
Where did it happen?
By verifying and locating videos posted to social media, Sky News has visually confirmed three apartment buildings in the Russian capital were damaged.
It is unclear if this damage has been caused by a direct hit or by a drone that has been shot down by air defences.
The Russian military has said eight drones were used in the attack and all of them were shot down.
Sky News’ Data and Forensics team mapped these areas by identifying distinctive features in the videos, such as street signs or buildings, and comparing them to existing imagery on Google Maps.
There was a sighting of one drone over the village of Il’inskoe, which is 15 miles west of the centre of Moscow.
Videos were also posted from the same area of a plume of smoke above an open field, claiming to be a shot-down drone.
Who might be behind the Moscow drone attack?
This video, which was filmed on Tuesday on a highway leading to Moscow, shows a Pantsir air defence system firing into the air and then cuts to a plume of smoke.
President Putin said that Moscow’s air defences “worked in a satisfactory way” but added it is “clear that our task is to plug the gaps” in the system.
Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Russian State Duma, has claimed that drones were downed in five locations.
Sky News is currently unable to verify these claims but one of the locations is Il’inskoe.
What types of drones were used?
Some verified videos from Moscow were initially met with scepticism due to it appearing that the drones were flying backwards.
In fact, this is because the drone seen in this video has a canard wing configuration. This means it has a smaller horizontal surface in front of the main wing, compared with traditional aircraft which have this behind.
According to an analyst from Janes, the defence intelligence firm, the drone in this video resembles a so-called “Beaver” UAV due to its canard wing configuration, rear-mounted engine, fins and fixed landing gear.
Putin blames Ukraine for Moscow drone attack
This type of drone has been featured in posts from the Ukrainian influencer Igor Lachenkov.
The Janes analyst also stated that based on available photographic evidence, multiple types of drones may have been used in the attack.
Others are warning that we cannot be certain who carried out the assault.
Dr James Rogers, a drone warfare expert, told Sky News: “On the one side, this could be a Russian false flag exercise yet again aimed to drum up Russian support for the war and perhaps a future draft that is coming in response to the Ukrainian offensive.”
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Drone seen flying over Moscow suburb
“Now, on the other side of this, it could be Ukraine. We know they have the technical capabilities to launch such a strike, but do I think they deliberately aimed to target civilian centres? No. Ukraine has only ever targeted military, industrial and energy infrastructure.
“The only reason why these drones have hit civilian buildings is because they were shot down by Russian air defences that then made them crash into these buildings.”
This story originally appeared on Skynews
