Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks of the war overnight, targeting several Russian regions including Moscow in a sweeping air assault that Russian authorities said involved more than 500 drones.The attack, which officials described as the largest attack on the Russian capital region in more than a year, killed at least four people and injured several others while damaging residential buildings and infrastructure facilities in various areas.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 556 Ukrainian drones in more than a dozen areas during the night bombing, as explosions and emergency responses were reported around Moscow and western Russia.At least four people were killed in the attacks, according to regional authorities. Three deaths were reported in the Moscow region and one in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border.Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said at least three people were killed in the attacks. According to Vorobyov, a woman died after a drone hit a private residential home, while another person remained trapped under the rubble for hours during rescue efforts.
There were also reports that two men were killed in two separate incidents linked to the strikes.“A woman was killed as a result of a drone crashing into a private house. Another person is trapped under the rubble,” Vorobyov wrote on Telegram.He added that the attacks began in the early hours of the morning and forced Russian air defense units into continuous operations.“Since three o’clock in the morning, the air defense forces repelled a large-scale drone attack on the capital area,” he said, adding that at least four people were injured and several infrastructure facilities were targeted during the bombing.Within Moscow itself, city Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defense systems intercepted at least 74 drones approaching the capital overnight, making it one of the deadliest nights of drone attacks the city has faced during the conflict. While Moscow and neighboring regions have previously been targeted by Ukrainian drones, attacks directly affecting the Russian capital have remained relatively rare.Sobyanin said 12 people were injured in the wider Moscow region when debris from the intercepted drones fell in different areas.The mayor posted on Telegram: “Slight damage was recorded at the sites where the rubble fell,” while urging residents to follow emergency instructions.Russian authorities did not immediately reveal the full extent of damage to infrastructure, but officials indicated that residential areas and strategic facilities were among the intended targets.The latest attacks came just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to step up retaliations following a major Russian strike on Kiev that killed 24 people.
Zelensky had warned that Moscow would face “consequences” for continued attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilians.Moscow and Kiev have exchanged intense air strikes in recent days after completing a prisoner exchange and collapsing a three-day temporary truce that ended earlier this week.Ukraine has repeatedly defended drone operations inside Russia, saying they target military infrastructure, logistics centers and energy facilities that support Moscow’s war effort.
But Russia accused Kiev of deliberately targeting civilian areas and trying to spread panic through attacks on populated areas.The conflict has increasingly evolved into a war with long-range missiles and drone attacks, with both countries using unmanned systems on an unprecedented scale. Analysts say the increasing sophistication and scale of drone attacks has forced both sides to invest heavily in multi-layered air defense systems and electronic warfare capabilities.
