War is gradually returning to Russia: Zelensky

Kiev, July 31

Hours after Kremlin accused Kiev of targeting Moscow with drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the "war is gradually returning to Russia".

In a video address on Sunday from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Zelensky said: "Today is the 522nd day of the so-called 'Special Military Operation', which the Russian leadership thought would last a couple of weeks.

"Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia -- to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."

Russia calls its ongoing invasion 'Special Military Operation'.

The Russian Defence Ministry said three drones were intercepted on Sunday but a business and shopping development in the west of the capital was hit.

The fifth and sixth floor of a 50-story building were damaged, and no casualties were reported, CNN quoted state news agency TASS as saying.

Videos showed debris as well as emergency services at the scene.

Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, said the latest drone attacks on Moscow were aimed at impacting Russians who felt the war was distant.

“There’s always something flying in Russia, as well as in Moscow. Now the war is affecting those who were not concerned,” Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.

“No matter how the Russian authorities would like to turn a blind eye on this by saying they have intercepted everything … something does hit.”

Ukrainian Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, whose Digital Transformation Ministry oversees the country’s “Army of Drones” procurement plan, had said there would be more drone strikes to come as Kiev ramps up a summer counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory, reports CNN.

Ukraine claimed responsibility for a strike on July 24 that hit two non-residential buildings, including one near the Ministry of Defence headquarter.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile attack in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on July 29 killed at least two civilians and 20, while a rocket strike on Zaporizhzhia left another two people dead.

Ukrainian drones also targeted the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on Sunday.