One of biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia kills four, wounds several near Moscow

At least four people, including three near Moscow, were killed in one of the biggest Ukrainian overnight drone attacks on Russia since the start of the war, according to Russian authorities, as Moscow and Kyiv continued exchanging strikes following the collapse of a brief truce earlier this week.

Russian air defences shot down 556 drones across more than a dozen regions overnight, including 81 headed towards Moscow, Russia’s Defence Ministry and state agency Tass reported. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defence systems intercepted at least 74 drones near the capital.

A woman was killed after a drone struck her home in Khimki, northwest of Moscow, while two men died in the village of Pogorelki, around 10km north of the capital, Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyev said. Another man was killed after a drone hit a lorry in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

Vorobyev said infrastructure facilities and several residential high-rises were damaged in the strikes. In Moscow, at least 12 people were wounded, mostly near the entrance to the city’s oil refinery. Sobyanin said the refinery’s “technology” had not been damaged.

Russia’s largest airport, Sheremetyevo, said drone debris had fallen on its premises without causing damage.

The attack marked one of the biggest strikes on the Russian capital since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While regions around Moscow are frequently targeted, direct strikes on the capital itself remain relatively rare.

The escalation comes days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed more retaliatory strikes following a Russian attack on Kyiv that killed 24 people. Moscow and Kyiv have continued exchanging attacks after a prisoner swap and the end of a three-day truce on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 287 drones overnight on Sunday, of which 279 were shot down or jammed. Ukrainian emergency services said eight people were injured in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, including in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Synelkove, where residential buildings were damaged.