Moscow residents reported hearing a loud explosion at around 11 a.m., according to the Russian news outlet Msk1, the Russian news outlet Rosbalt, and the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti.
Residents said the sound was heard across the city — in the Troparyovo-Nikulino district to the southwest, the Lyubertsy area to the southeast, and Zelenograd to the northwest.
Citing eyewitnesses, Rosbalt reported that the sound was especially loud in southwestern Moscow — in Konkovo, Solntsevo, on Vernadsky Avenue, and in Kommunarka — and that some Konkovo residents felt a shock wave.
Ostorozhno Novosti wrote that the sound was also faintly audible downtown, near Kurskaya and Taganskaya, for example.
The Moscow branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry told the news outlet Podem it had no information yet about the explosion. “We know about this situation, but there are no signs of either smoke or fire, nothing at all. […] We heard it too, but it’s unclear where or what it was,” the ministry stated.
The Russian security services-linked Telegram channel Baza claimed preliminary information pointed to an aircraft breaking the sound barrier in the region as the cause of the sound. A source close to emergency response services told the Russian business news outlet RBC the same thing.
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