Moscow region struck by Ukrainian drones as Zelensky justifies logistics campaign
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirms strikes on oil depot and warehouses in retaliation for recent Russian missile barrages on Kyiv, marking a sustained escalation in cross-border operations.
A Ukrainian drone offensive targeting the Moscow region on Monday night resulted in injuries to at least 10 people, according to Russian authorities. The attacks, which sparked fires and caused structural damage across several districts, were confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky as strikes on an oil depot and logistics facilities. Zelensky described the operation as a "just" response to recent Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, signalling a continued intensification of Kyiv’s strategy to disrupt Russian supply chains deep within its territory.
Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported that the strikes affected the towns of Podolsk, Domodedovo, and Odintsovo. Damage was recorded at several private homes in Podolsk, while a residential building and an industrial park in Domodedovo were hit, causing a fire. Vorobyov confirmed that among the injured were a child and three Chinese citizens. One individual was wounded after a drone fell near a vehicle on a motorway.
The scale of the aerial assault was significant, with Russian authorities stating that nearly 400 drones were launched at the region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that air defences shot down 85 drones as they approached the capital. The incident follows a rapid cycle of retaliation; it occurred just one day after a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv killed one person and wounded 16, and two days after Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries e-commerce warehouses outside Moscow killed eight workers.
Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, evacuated its logistics centre in the Podolsk district as a precaution before resuming operations. The targeting of such commercial infrastructure underscores Kyiv’s broader policy of disrupting ordinary life and fuel supplies in Russia. Zelensky has stated that these strikes, which have reached as far as the Urals and Siberia, aim to damage Moscow’s war effort and pressure the Kremlin into negotiations.
Further south, in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, a separate drone attack on a village killed one person and wounded four. The Moscow region attacks come amid a summer of heightened Russian missile activity, with June recording the highest civilian casualties in Ukraine since 2022. The ongoing conflict, now in its fifth year, continues to see reciprocal strikes that increasingly impact civilian infrastructure and cross-border security dynamics.
