At least eight drone strikes hit Moscow in the early morning of May 30, 2023, damaging several buildings and injuring civilians.

This follows Russia’s targeting residential buildings in Ukraine with a wave of drone attacks in late May, killing civilians.

While Ukraine has said it is not “directly” responsible for the strikes on Moscow, Russia’s government has called the strikes a “terrorist attack.”

For more than a year, daily life in Ukraine has been marked by aerial vehicles known as drones littering the sky, creating unease and inflicting real damage in the war with Russia.

Both Russia and Ukraine are using drones in this war to remotely locate targets and drop bombs, among other purposes.

Today, drones are used in various other conflicts but are also used to deliver packages, track weather and entertain drone hobbyists.

Military drones range from small consumer quadcopters to remotely piloted warplanes – and all types are being used by militaries around the world.

As a scholar of public diplomacy and foreign policy – and a former United States undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs – I know how important it is for people to understand drones and their proliferation, given the risks of war, terrorism and accidental drone clashes in the world today.

The U.S. is among more than 100 countries using drones in times of conflict.

Terrorists have also been known to deploy drones because they are relatively low-cost weapons with high degrees of civilian damage.

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