Ukraine launches massive drone offensive across 14 Russian regions in retaliation for Kyiv strikes
Russian air defences intercepted the majority of the barrage, including 81 drones targeting the capital, while diplomatic efforts remain stalled amid shifting international priorities.
Ukraine has launched a coordinated overnight aerial assault involving approximately 600 drones across 14 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula, and adjacent seas. The operation, described by Russian authorities as one of the largest in the ongoing conflict, resulted in four fatalities and at least 12 injuries within Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky characterised the strikes as a justified response to Russia’s prolongation of the war and a recent Russian assault on Kyiv that killed 24 people.
Russian air defence systems intercepted the majority of the drones, with 81 directed at Moscow alone. Local authorities in the Moscow region confirmed the deaths of one woman in Khimki and two men in Pogorelki, while a fourth fatality was reported in the Belgorod region after a drone struck a lorry. In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that debris from the intercepted drones damaged three residential buildings and injured construction workers near an oil and gas refinery entrance. Despite the damage to infrastructure, Sobyanin confirmed that production at the refinery remained uninterrupted.
The scale of the attack extended well beyond the capital. Interceptions occurred across the Black and Azov seas, with the region surrounding Moscow among the worst-hit. Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport reported that drone debris had fallen on its premises but sustained no damage. Ukrainian officials noted that the distance from the Ukrainian border to the strike zone exceeded 500 kilometres, asserting that Kyiv was overcoming the high concentration of Russian air defences in the Moscow region.
In retaliation, Ukraine reported that Russian forces launched 287 drones overnight, 279 of which were shot down or jammed. The Ukrainian emergency service stated that the Russian strikes injured eight people in the Dnipropetrovsk region, with residential buildings damaged in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Synelkove. Zelensky stated on X that the attacks were intended to signal that Russia’s state must end its war, emphasising that Kyiv’s strategy of targeting military and energy sites within Russia was designed to impact Moscow’s war financing.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict remain at a standstill. Kyiv has rejected Moscow’s demands for territory in the Donbas region, and negotiations have notably stalled since Washington’s attention shifted to the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February. A three-day truce marking the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany expired on Tuesday, with both sides accusing each other of violations. Since then, Moscow and Kyiv have resumed trading attacks, with Ukraine regularly striking within Russia in response to daily bombardments over the past four years.
