“We immediately thought that the drone broke through”: Muscovites spoke about the attack of drones

City services came to the residents of the house where the glass was broken

Around half past three in the morning on July 24, residents of Komsomolsky Prospekt in Moscow were awakened by a strong explosion – a drone fell on the roof of a two-story house No. 18. People in this and in neighboring buildings were not injured.

A resident of house No. 19, Mikhail, says that, having heard the explosion, he immediately got ready and went out into the street. “Everything was already blocked, there were ambulances, firefighters, gray smoke covered the street,” recalls a Muscovite.

– Early in the morning, at about 3.30-3.40, we heard a very strong explosion and, literally in the next second, the sound of broken glass. We found empty window sashes in several rooms, – Marina Georgievna, a resident of an apartment on the fourth floor of building No. 17, told Moskovsky Komsomolets. At the time of the attack, she was at home with her husband and son.

The five-story building No. 17 is located almost opposite the object of the drone hit. It is separated from the attacked building by an eight-lane highway.

– Right now, Zhilischnik is working on glass replacement, – the woman continues. – Today we generally have a day of visits, various organizations came – both the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Mosgaz (it turned out that everything is in order with gas), there was a specialist from the management company. Even the prefect came! He reassured us, said that the work would be done for us free of charge, all damages would be repaired quickly.

– Do many residents have their windows broken?

– Yes. They came to our floor from Zhilischnik, to the third, to the fifth, too – that’s what I know.

– What did you think when you woke up from the explosion?

– Yes, they immediately thought that the drone had broken through, the detonation was very strong. And so it turned out – the drone flew into the Khamovniki barracks. There are people in the barracks themselves, but in that part of the building where he ended up, there is a design institution, and in the morning there was no one there. From the windows we see that the roof is broken, the sheets of roofing iron are crumpled.

In the next house downstairs there is a shop “Massandra”. The trading enterprise has not been operating for more than a year, the premises are being renovated. The windows were smashed.

– Rescuers advised you to stay at home?

– No, there were no special instructions. In general, we are not particularly afraid, we were reassured by the authorities and specialists, they are great! Most likely, the people who launched the drone were aiming at the main building of the Ministry of Defense at 22 Frunzenskaya Embankment (less than two hundred meters from the affected houses). Although who knows, maybe their target was the Military University or the fire department… In any case, we hope the attackers will never be able to carry out their plans again.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29077 dated July 25, 2023

Newspaper headline:
“We immediately thought that the drone broke through”