The Russian capital was targeted by a rare drone attack on Tuesday morning, causing "minor" damage to buildings and no casualties, the city's mayor said.

"This morning, at dawn, a drone attack caused minor damage to several buildings. All the city's emergency services are on the scene ... No one has been seriously injured so far," Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Moscow, located more than 1,000 kilometres from Ukraine, has only rarely been targeted by drone attacks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, even though such attacks have become more common elsewhere in Russia.

Images posted on social media showed traces of smoke in the sky. Others showed a broken window.

The attack follows a similar assault on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, which was carried out by Russian drones overnight and left at least one person dead, according to the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Russian forces fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv on Monday, sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes.

In early May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin in an attack blamed on Ukraine. (AFP)