Moscow region casualties rise as Ukraine escalates drone offensive across Russia
Air defence systems intercepted 556 drones in a broad attack spanning 14 regions, with significant damage reported at an oil refinery entrance and debris falling at Sheremetyevo Airport.
Russian authorities have confirmed that three people were killed and 12 injured following a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region overnight. Regional Governor Andrei Vorobiev reported that air defence forces intercepted 556 unmanned aerial vehicles, describing the overnight period as a sustained repelling of a significant offensive. The casualties included a woman in Khimki, where debris caused structural damage and trapped a resident under rubble, and a man and woman in the village of Pogorelki.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that drones struck an entrance to the city’s oil refinery, resulting in 12 injuries to construction workers and damage to three nearby residential houses. Despite the incident, Sobyanin noted that production at the refinery was not disrupted and the damage to the affected sites was minor. Separately, Sheremetyevo Airport, Russia’s busiest aviation hub, confirmed that drone wreckage was found on its territory. Airport authorities assured the public that passenger and aircraft services remained stable and the situation in the terminals was calm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky characterised the strikes as an entirely justified response to recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, specifically citing a deadly assault on Kyiv earlier in the week that killed 24 people. In a message posted to Telegram, Zelensky declared that Ukraine’s long-range sanctions had reached the Moscow region, asserting that the attacks were intended to signal that Russia’s state must end its war. He also claimed that Ukrainian forces had destroyed high-value Russian military equipment, including aircraft, a helicopter, and a cargo ship, in recent days.
The coordinated attack extended beyond the capital region, with incursions reported across 14 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula, and surrounding seas. In the Moscow area, Vorobiev reported that four additional people were injured, with houses damaged and a private residence set on fire in the village of Subbotino. The scale of the aerial barrage marks one of the most extensive operations of the ongoing conflict, highlighting the expanding geographic scope of the war.
Concurrently, Russian forces launched more than 30 drone and shelling attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, injuring eight people. Local official Oleksandr Hanzha reported that fires and damage to houses were caused across four districts, with three people injured in the regional capital of Dnipro. Ukraine’s air force stated that Russia had launched 287 drones since late Saturday, with 279 intercepted and eight direct hits recorded in seven locations. The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, continues to see Moscow control approximately 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory.
