Moscow restaurant blast a 'brutal terror attack,' mayor says

An explosion ripped through an Italian restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday night, killing at least three people, including the suspected bomber, according to authorities. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the incident as a "brutal terrorist attack." In an online post on Sunday, he said law enforcement agencies were investigating and that those responsible would be found and face deserved punishment.

Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee said a woman carrying "a homemade explosive device" tried to enter the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square but was stopped by a security guard. The device detonated at the entrance, killing the woman, the guard, and a restaurant patron.

State news agency RIA Novosti reported at least 21 other people were injured in the blast, which occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time. The restaurant's website said the venue had been closed on Saturday for a private event. The establishment is located in one of Moscow's seven Stalin-era skyscrapers.

Heavily armed law enforcement sealed off the area and launched an investigation. Authorities did not immediately identify those they believed to be behind the attack. Russia has faced several attacks since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, and officials have blamed a series of assassinations and attempted killings on Kyiv. However, they have yet to comment on any possible Ukrainian involvement in this blast.

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched drone attacks on other parts of Russia on Saturday evening and early Sunday. A bombing targeted an apartment block in the city of Engels, about 900 kilometers southeast of Moscow, killing two people. Russia's Defense Ministry also said Kyiv struck a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, a major online retailer, in the Samara Oblast. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said it was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Russian officials reported over 100 Ukrainian strikes in the Belgorod Oblast bordering Ukraine, which left 14 people injured, using artillery, rocket launchers, and drones. They claimed over 200 Ukrainian drones were shot down during the wave of attacks, with a total of 635 downed overnight.

On the Ukrainian side, at least one person was killed and seven wounded in Russian artillery fire on Kherson. In Dnipro, seven passengers were wounded in a drone strike on a minibus, described by regional administrator Oleksandr Hanzha as a "deliberate and cynical attack on civilians." At least nine people were killed and 33 injured in Russian strikes on Kyiv earlier this weekend.