Eight Drones Target Moscow, White House: We Do Not Support Attacks Inside Russia

White House in Washington DC (Wikimedia Commons/Matt H. Wade)

JAKARTA - The United States insists it does not support strikes inside Russia, focusing instead on supporting Ukraine to retake its territory, while gathering information on reports of drone attacks on Moscow.

"We have seen the story and are still gathering information about what happened. In general, we do not support attacks inside Russia," a White House spokeswoman said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters, May 31.

Further, the spokesperson said Washington was "focused on providing Ukraine with the equipment and training they need, to reclaim their own sovereign territory," pointing to Russia's attack on Kyiv, which has been hit by drones or missiles 17 times in May.

As previously reported, eight drones targeted the Moscow region and its surroundings which have a population of more than 21 people in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Russian authorities said, however, all of them were shot down and/or diverted with special jammers.

The attacks targeted areas where President Vladimir Putin and other Russian elites have residences. Two people were injured in the incident, according to the Mayor of Moscow.

President Putin called the attack a terrorist response, which came after Russia attacked the Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters several days ago.

Ukraine, continued President Putin, has chosen the path of trying to "intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attack residential buildings".

"This is a clear sign of terrorist activity," he said.

Earlier, the Kremlin said Tuesday's drone strike against Moscow was Kyiv's attempt to avenge Russia's effective attack on one of its key facilities, the decision-making center in Ukraine on Sunday.

"It is clear that what we saw was the Kyiv regime's reaction to our very effective attack on one of the decision-making centers. The attack took place on Sunday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS.

Separately, an aide to Ukraine's president denied Kyiv was directly involved in the Moscow attack, but said Ukraine enjoyed watching the attacks unfold and expected more.

"Of course we are happy to witness and expect an increase in the number of attacks. But of course we have nothing to do directly with this," said Presidential Adviser to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak.