04.04 BST
Telegram channels linked to Russia’s FSB have reported that residents of several districts in south-west and south Moscow have reported explosion sounds, Portal reports.
Komsomolsky Avenue is located near the Russian Defense Ministry buildings in Moscow’s central administrative district.
A police officer blocks a street in central Moscow after the reported drone attack. Photo: Shamil Zhumatov/Portal
Updated on 04/04 BST
03.51 BST
The debris of a drone was found in the center of Moscow, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.
It quoted an emergency official as saying early Monday:
The wreckage of a drone was discovered at Komsomolsky Prospekt 17. According to preliminary information, there were no injuries.
The official said law enforcement and emergency services were at the scene.
Updated at 03:51 BST
03.37 BST
opening summary
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing live coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine – this is Adam Fulton.
Drones struck two non-residential buildings in Moscow around 4 a.m. (01:00 GMT) Monday, the Moscow Mayor said.
“There was no serious damage or injury,” Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defense forces thwarted the attack and two drones were intercepted and destroyed.
In other important developments:
Ukrainians clear debris at the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa after the Russian missile attack. Photo: Scott Peterson/Getty Images
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s counteroffensive ‘failed’ When he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St. Petersburg. “There is no counter-offensive,” Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying on Sunday, to which Putin replied: “There is, but it has failed.” Ukraine launched its counter-offensive last month but has had little success so far.
Lukashenko claimed that Minsk was “controlling” the situation with fighters from the Wagner mercenary group and confining them to the center of the country. Belarus is hosting Wagner fighters on its territory after brokering a deal after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ended a short-lived insurgency last month in exchange for a safe escape to Belarusian exile.
Putin (left) and Lukashenko on Sunday at a museum in Kronstadt on Kotlin Island, outside Saint Petersburg. Photo: Alexandr Demyanchuk/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kiev and Warsaw would “always be united” after Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko accused Poland of territorial ambitions. “Putin’s attempts to drive a wedge between Kiev and Warsaw are as futile as his failed invasion of Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Unlike Russia, Poland and Ukraine have learned from history and will always stand united against Russian imperialism and disregard for international law.”
Ukraine claimed Russia fired cluster munitions at a cultural center in the Donetsk region on Sunday morning. The Defense Ministry said the center in Chasiv Yar houses the “humanitarian headquarters” and will be used as an aid distribution point for civilians.
A meeting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council is scheduled for Wednesday, which is expected to deal with security in the Black Sea, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. NATO spokesman Oanu Lungescu earlier said the previously announced meeting, which Zelenskyy requested in a phone call with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, would discuss the situation following Russia’s withdrawal from the year-old deal on Ukrainian grain exports.
Updated at 03:36 BST