Vengeance Drones

In Moscow, the morning of Tuesday, 30 May 2923, began with reports of a massive drone attack. According to media reports, Moscow was attacked by 25 to 32 UAVs. Telegram channels reported the first explosion at approximately four in the morning Moscow time. According to the Russian publication Baza, it was about 25 drones that attacked the capital of the Russian Federation and the Moscow region. According to the Russian publication RBC, 10 drones were shot down. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation provides other data, talking about eight drones and claiming that all of them were shot down. Russian mass media report three drone strikes on residential buildings.

The deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Oleksandr Khinshtein in his Telegram channel in the first half of the day published a "primary list" of places where, according to preliminary data, drones shot down in the Moscow suburbs fell. In particular, the fall of drones was recorded in the villages of Ilyinske and Tymoshkino in the Krasnohorsk district, the villages of Rozdory and Romashkovo in the Odintsovo district, as well as the village of Greenfield in the Istryna district. So, according to the Russian publication "Projekt", the house of the head of Gazprom Oleksiy Miller is located in Greenfield.

The targets seemed to have been located in one of the most affluent parts of the Russian capital, namely the Rublyovka area in the west, where Putin and other significant Russian figures have homes. Several of the drones landed near Putin's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo.

The drones could have taken off from Ukraine, as these models have a range of between 800 and 1,000 kilometers (500-620 miles) and can evade anti-aircraft defenses due to their ability to fly at very low altitude. The shortest distance in a straight line between Ukrainian territory and the Russian capital is about 560 kilometers (350 miles).

Two days before the Moscow attack, Russian state television had been questioning how drones of this type could evade its air defenses. State Duma deputy Andrey Gurulyov, a retired Lieutenant General, said during an interview on one of Russia’s flagship state television talk shows, Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, that the country’s anti-aircraft systems are designed to act against ballistic missiles and other weapons capable of carrying large explosive charges.

Gurulyov said that drones such as those used in the attacks had different specifications and characteristics than conventional missiles, and the Russian Federation did not have the “means” to stop them. He also urged Russian oil companies and other strategic enterprises to arm their facilities with electronic warfare devices, such as jammers, to knock out drones. “Our Armed Forces cannot protect all critical infrastructure,” he added.

If the information is accurate and one of the drones was shot down over the village of Rozdory near Moscow, then it is not far from the residence of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin , Russian journalist Farida Rustamova notes in her Telegram channel. "This is part of Rublyovka, where there are state dachas, private houses of officials and businessmen. Putin's residence Novo-Ogaryovo (in the village of Usovo) is a 10-minute drive away," Rustamova wrote.

President Putin spent the night at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo during drone attacks on the Moscow region the day before , writes The Moscow Times, citing a source. According to him, Putin was raised early in the morning by the security service due to an air threat. This was previously reported by journalist Peter Kozlov. From the list of drones shot down in the Moscow region, published by State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein , it follows that air defense systems neutralized drones a few kilometers from Putin's residence. When two UAVs were shot down over the Kremlin in early May , Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was an assassination attempt on the president. This time the Kremlin did not give such assessments.

As for Moscow itself, as reported by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, "the incidents occurred in the morning of May 30 in residential buildings on Atlasova Street in New Moscow, as well as on Profspilkova Street and on Leninsky Prospect. As a result, there is damage to the houses." According to Russian mass media, the explosions occurred in a high-rise building on Atlasova Street; on Leninsky Prospekt, a UAV flew into an apartment on the 14th floor, but did not explode; a building on Profspilkova street was also damaged, its facade and glass elements of the building were destroyed.

The attacks came after Russia launched a heavy barrage of missiles and drones at Ukrainian airfields, ammunition dumps, and “decision-making centers” responsible for plotting similar terrorist actions, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Vladimir Putin confirmed on 30 May 2023 that the headquarters of the Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) was among the decision-making centers hit. “We’ve been talking about the possibility of striking the ‘decision-making centers.’ Naturally, Ukraine’s military intelligence headquarters falls into such a category, and it was hit two or three days ago,” Putin stated. Moscow’s anti-aircraft defense fared “okay” in repelling the latest attack, Putin noted, admitting that there still was room for improvement. Kiev’s ultimate goal of indiscriminately striking Moscow and other Russian cities is provoking a “mirror response” from Russia, the president stated.

“They are provoking us into taking mirror actions. We’ll se what we can do about it. Yet, Ukrainian citizens, who of course have no say about anything now, since Ukraine has unleashed a total terror against its civilian population, must realize what the incumbent authorities are pushing for,” Putin said. He went on to say that the most grave threats include the continuous effort by Kiev to “disrupt” the work of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, as well as potential attempts to use a “dirty” nuclear device.

The drone raid on Moscow was an attempt at payback by Kiev for Russia’s latest airstrikes on a Ukrainian decision-making center, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed. “It is clear that we are talking about the response of the Kiev regime to our very effective strikes on one of the decision-making centers. This strike took place on Sunday,” Peskov told journalists after the attack. President Vladimir Putin later confirmed that Russian forces struck Ukraine’s military intelligence headquarters in Kiev “two or three days ago.”

By 1943 the tide of war was turning and Germany was on the defensive. It was then that intelligence of a new threat to Britain’s cities began to emerge – missiles and rockets. The V1 missile, once launched, flew without a pilot until it ran out of fuel and came crashing down, blowing up. The V2 rocket was a long distance weapon that could travel at many times the speed of sound. They were known as Vergeltungswaffen [retaliatory weapons, vengeance weapons] used by Germany to terrorise British civilians and undermine morale.

Anger is cloquent; vengeance is sweet: but to stand calm and collected; to suspend the blow which passion was urgent to strike; to drive the reasons of clemency as far as they will go; to bring forward fairly in view the circumstances of mitigation; to distinguish between surprise and deliberation, infirmity and crime or if infliction be deemed necessary, to leave God to be both the judge and the executioner; this patience to labor after. People love to sting the passionate: they who are easily provoked, commit their repose to the keeping of their enemies; they lie down at their feet and invite them to strike.

He that is slow to anger is of great understanding; but he that is hasty of spirit, exalteth folly.' Wisdom gives large, various, comprehensive views of things; the very exercise operates as a diversion, affords the mind time to cool, and furnishes numberless circumstances tending to soften severity. Dignity requires it. It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgression.' The man provoked to vengeance is conquered, and loses the glory of the struggle; while he who forbears comes off victor, crowned with uncommon laurels. A flood assails a rock, and rolls off unable to make an impression; while straws and boughs are borne off in triumph, carried down the stream, driven and tossed.

The Temple of Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger) occupied the centre of the eastern side of the Forum of Augustus. It was dedicated by Octavian Augustus in 42 BC on the eve of the battle of Philippi fought together with Mark Antony against Brutus and Cassius to avenge the assassination of Julius Caesar, his uncle and adoptive father. The temple was inaugurated in the year 2 BC. The significance of this group lies in the legitimization of power for the Iulia family who, according to the legend, descended from Iulus Ascanius, son of Aeneas, son of Venus. The Temple was completely destroyed around the times of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric (493-526) in order to reuse the marble and other construction materials.