Kiev: The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that it shot down one of its own drones after “losing control” over central Kiev.
On Thursday night, there were explosions for around 15 to 20 minutes as air defence attempted to shoot the drone down in an area near the President’s office, reports the BBC.
In a statement, the air force admitted that the Bayraktar TB2 UAV had lost control around at 8 p.m. in the Kiev region, during a scheduled flight.
It added that it had taken a decision to shoot it down “since the uncontrolled presence of UAVs in the sky of the capital could lead to undesirable consequences”.
There were no casualties or injuries from the falling drone.
“It’s a pity, but this is technology, and such cases happen. It is probably a technical malfunction, the reasons are being established,” the BBC quoted the statement as saying.
City military administration head Serhiy Popko said a fire was brought under control in a building where the drone was brought down in Solomyanskyi district, west of the city centre.
The incident comes after Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday aimed at assassinating President Vladimir Putin, who was not in the building at the time.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US was “undoubtedly” behind the alleged attack, without providing evidence.
In response, US National Security spokesman John Kirby called it a “ludicrous claim”.
Ukraine has said it had nothing to do with the alleged attack on the Kremlin, and has accused Moscow of staging the incident in order to escalate the war.
–IANS