Tuesday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported on his social media that a drone attack caused minor damage to a number of Moscow buildings.

Russian publication Baza reported that Moscow was attacked by 25 drones, the majority of which were destroyed by the Russian air defense. They said that three drones struck residential buildings in Moscow.

The Russian opposition publication Meduza reported that neither the Russian nor Moscow authorities have confirmed explicitly the number of drones involved in the attack.

Security expert Rainer Saks told ERR on Tuesday morning that it is right now impossible to say with certainty who was responsible for the Moscow drone attack, as both the Russian government and Ukraine could have had motives.

"As of now, Ukraine has not obviously attacked residential structures and neighborhoods in Russia; [it has targeted] only military objects or critical infrastructure," Saks said. "I would not say at this time that Ukraine is responsible for this attack. Although there is a certain logic to this: to establish a balance, i.e., while Russia continually attacks Kiev with missiles, show to the people of Moscow that they, too, are vulnerable to attack."

"Nonetheless, it is also impossible to say with certainty that Russia was behind the strike. I don't have the confidence to say so right now. /.../ It appears unlikely, and there are no facts to imply that it was carried out at this time by the Russians."

Saks pointed out that the Russian leadership would have a motive for the attack, which would be to rally people around them and promote mobilization.

"Of course, Russia has to declare mobilization, if it wants this war to last a long time. Their losses will grow, as they cannot mobilize their soldiers effectively right now with the current recruitment campaign. They would need to create a context for that, and at the moment, the context of Russia being attacked would seem appropriate, but it is also extremely dangerous for political power," Saks said.

"Nonetheless, it is clear that these are not isolated drones and that this is an organized attack. Let's see if additional information comes up throughout the day that gives us reason for guessing. It is right now really ambiguous," Saks said.

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