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Russian Lawmaker Calls for 'Squadron of Eagles' to Protect Kremlin

Sergei Kiselev / Moskva News Agency

As the fallout from Wednesday morning's apparent drone strike on the Kremlin continued to dominate the Russian news cycle, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee made an unusual call for a "squadron of eagle interceptors" to be created to help defend Moscow from future drone strikes.

"We need to think about protecting our important infrastructure to the point of forming a squadron of drone interceptor eagles in the Kremlin and other places," Alexei Zhuravlev told Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Thursday, apparently in full seriousness.

Following his call, military expert and pro-war pundit Vladislav Shurygin posted a video to his Telegram channel showing an eagle successfully intercepting a drone in mid-flight.

Zhuravlev also called for a Russian strike on the headquarters of the Ukrainian intelligence services and the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in response to the alleged Kremlin drone attack. 

"It is necessary to target the center of Kyiv! Destroy the president's office, raze the Verkhovna Rada, the General Staff, and the buildings where the Ukrainian special services are located to the ground," the parliamentarian said.

"The fact that a drone flew to the Kremlin is a personal insult to me," Zhuravlev added.

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