Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to play down the significance of the drone attack on Moscow "so as not to reveal the limited opportunities he has to retaliate against Ukraine."
This follows from a statement by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
"Putin claimed that Russian forces struck the Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters "two [to] three days ago" and claimed that the Russian Armed Forces continue to respond to Ukraine's "war against Donbas" by striking Ukrainian military infrastructure. Putin insinuated that the drone strike on Moscow was Kyiv's response to Russian strikes, and the Russian MoD conveniently claimed on May 30 that Russian forces carried out "a group of strikes with long-range high-precision air-launched weapons at main decision-making centers" in Ukraine," the authors of the report write.
Analysts emphasize that the Ministry of Defense of Russia did not say it recently struck the headquarters of Ukrainian military intelligence, and there is no confirmation of this statement by Putin.
"Putin's emphasis on past and ongoing missile strikes is likely an attempt to signal that Russia is already actively retaliating and does not need to respond to further Ukrainian provocations. Putin has consistently retaliated against genuine and purported Ukrainian actions by ordering massive missile and drone campaigns, likely due to Russian forces' inability to achieve any decisive effects on the battlefield," the message said.
In addition, analysts say, Putin noted that while Moscow's air defense systems were "functioning normally," Russia still needed "work" to improve them.
This, according to ISW, "is a notable attempt to preempt criticism from Russian ultra-nationalists who have been criticizing Russia's ineffective air defense systems in Moscow and along the Russian border regions with Ukraine."
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on the morning of Tuesday, May 30, Moscow and the settlements of the Moscow region were attacked by unknown drones.
The Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation stated that eight drones allegedly attacked the capital. All of them were allegedly neutralized by means of air defense or electronic warfare.
At the same time, according to information from several Telegram channels, about 30 drones were involved in the attack on Moscow and the Moscow Oblast.
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