Russia says Ukrainian drones kill 4 as Moscow faces ‘largest’ attack in over a year

Russia on Sunday said that four people were killed and 21 others were injured in a massive Ukrainian drone attack targeting several regions, with state-run Tass news agency reporting that Moscow experienced its “largest” assault in more than a year.

In a statement on Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 556 Ukrainian drones overnight in several regions, including Belgorod, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Bryansk, Voronezh, Tula, Smolensk, Pskov, Lipetsk, Tver and Rostov, as well as Krasnodar Krai, the Moscow region, annexed Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram that air defenses shot down 81 drones heading toward the capital overnight.

He said 12 people were injured in the attacks, most of them construction workers near a checkpoint at the Moscow Oil Refinery.

“The refinery’s operations were not disrupted. Three buildings were damaged,” Sobyanin said, adding that 120 drones had been intercepted over the past 24 hours.

Separately, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said on Russian social media platform Max that three people were killed and four others injured in a drone attack.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the drone strikes targeting Moscow and the surrounding region as a “mass terrorist attack,” according to Tass.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, one person was killed and two others were injured over the past 24 hours, the regional operational headquarters said on Telegram.

In Russia’s Kursk region, three people were injured over the past 24 hours as a result of the Ukrainian attacks in the border area, regional Gov. Aleksandr Hinshtein said on Russian social media Max.

1 killed, 25 injured in Ukraine

Ukrainian authorities accused Moscow of launching more than 280 drones overnight, and killing one person and injuring 25 people in Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Sumy regions over the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 279 of the drones, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Telegram.

In the Kherson region, one person was killed Sunday morning following a drone attack, the regional prosecutor’s office said on Telegram.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram that eight people were injured in Russian drone and artillery attacks across four districts of the region.

In the Kharkiv region, seven people were injured in Russian attacks over the past 24 hours, regional state administration head Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov also reported on Telegram that seven people were injured in attacks across the region during the same period.

Three people were injured in Ukraine’s Sumy region over the past 24 hours following 80 Russian attacks targeting 30 settlements, the regional military administration said on Facebook.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of launching more than 3,170 attack drones, over 1,300 guided aerial bombs and 74 missiles of various types over the past week, killing 52 people and injuring 346 others.

“That is why the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) initiative and additional contributions for anti-ballistic missiles are critical. And it is equally important to work in Europe on joint protection against ballistic missiles,” Zelenskyy wrote on US social media company X.

In a separate statement, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range strikes had reached the Moscow region, “clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war.”

“The distance from Ukraine’s state border is over 500 kilometers. The concentration of Russian air defense in the Moscow region is the highest. But we are overcoming it,” he added.

The independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.