A DRONE has crashed in what has been labelled as a "failed attack" just 68 miles from the centre of the Russian capital, the regional governor said.
Andrei Vorobyov reported the incident near the town of Kolomna shortly after the Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of attempting two drone strikes in southern Russia overnight.
Ukraine does not publicly claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
If it was behind the Kolomna incident, it would be its closest attempted drone strike to the Russian capital since Russia invaded Ukraine just over a year ago.
Postings on Russian social media showed the grey metal wreckage of a drone lying in a snowdrift by the edge of a wood said to be near Kolomna.
Vorobyov said the drone appeared to have been intended to strike a "civil infrastructure facility" but there was no damage.
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He said the FSB security agency was dealing with the situation and there was no danger to residents.
Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of launching attack drones towards civil infrastructure targets in the southern regions of Krasnodar and Adygea.
It said its anti-drone defence systems had caused the drones to veer off course and miss their targets.
The Russian Defence Ministry said: "Both drones lost control and deviated from their flight paths.
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"One fell into a field, the other, deviating from its trajectory, did not harm the intended target."
The downing of this drone comes as Putin deployed air defence systems around Moscow as drone attacks are getting closer and closer to his capital city.
One Pantsir-S1 system has emerged just six miles from Putin’s official residence near Moscow – seemingly to protect the fearful president from drones and missiles.
Close to the air defence systems is Putin's luxury forest bolthole beside Lake Valdai, a sprawling estate boasting a palatial main residence, guesthouses and a golf course.
S-400 systems, often used in tandem with Pantsir systems, are used to bring down aerial threats including aircraft as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.
They can reach altitudes up to 30km and shoot down 80 targets at the same time.
In early December, it was reported that Ukrainian special forces hid in Russian territories to guide drone blitzes.
Shocking footage showed an explosion and a huge fireball at the military airbase in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
Suspected Ukrainian drones also targeted the Belbek military airport in Sevastopol – but were reportedly downed by air defences.
Last year two of Putin's nuclear bombers were blown up in a Ukrainian drone attack.
St Petersburg suspended all flights for an hour this morning, blaming "exercises involving fighter jets".
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In early December, Russia said three military personnel had been killed in alleged Ukrainian drone attacks on two air bases hundreds of miles from the front lines in Ukraine.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities.
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