Expert says Ukrainians tested drones for future attacks on espionage training hubs.

Two drones hit buildings in Moscow early on 24 July and debris was found not far from Defense Ministry headquarters and facilities of the military intelligence agency GRU, according to Russian media reports.

The mayor of the Russian capital, Sergey Sobyanin, announced on his Telegram chat channel that the drones struck two non-residential buildings at around 4 a.m. but there was no serious damage or casualties. 

The Russian authorities immediately accused Ukraine of the attack, which a Bulgarian investigative journalist claimed to be aimed specifically at the Russian defense and espionage infrastructure. 

“Russian media report that a drone attacked buildings near Komsomolsky prospect 17 in Moscow; traffic down this avenue has been closed. What is interesting is that this address is just across from the headquarters of GRU's cyber offense (incl. FancyBear), among other military units,” said Christo Grozev, whom GRU, FSB, and other Russian security services are competing each other to capture or assassinate for his role in high-profile investigations regarding the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny and the crash of the Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014.

District where the 24 July drone attack took place.

Credit: Radio Free Europe

Grozev, a leading investigator of the Bellingcat group, stated in an interview with the independent television station Dozhd (RainTV) that the purpose of the 24 July attack with drones wasn’t to destroy any particular residential or industrial building. 

“This was more like a symbolic attack, which possibly targeted the Kremlin [complex]… it’s about the drone that exploded in the high-rise commercial building. As for other, which crashed on the Komsomolsky avenue, it is obvious that its target was the complex of buildings belonging to the GRU and the Ministry of Defense, which are concentrated namely in this sector,” Grozev explained.

Bellingcat has been monitoring this region of the Russian capital because it hosts very many secret units, including GRU’s largest cyber warfare team Russia has been using against NATO military infrastructure and political institutions in the European Union and the United States.

The same district hosts a “foreign” task force that trains deeply classified agents who travel back to their home countries and remain in dormant status until they get activated for specific missions anywhere in the world, according to the journalist, who is among the most informed sources about Russia and its special services.

No less important is the space warfare command, in the same perimeter, he noted while counting Ukraine’s arguments for the drone attack.

A third, spy drone fell near the city of Zelenograd, where the Russian Navy has a communication hub for its Black Sea Fleet.

In Grozev’s opinion, the entire operation with drones on 24 July was a sort of reconnaissance mission to identify the weaknesses in Russian air defenses and to reduce the morale as well as reputation of GRU by showing that Ukraine knows where to find them. In the future, Ukraine might launch a large-scale attack with drones to destroy the above-mentioned facilities.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.