Ukraine Launches Over 1,000 Drones at Russia in Largest Attack on Moscow
Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including what Moscow described as the largest-ever attack on the capital that damaged an oil refinery and killed two people in the Moscow region. [2]
Massive Ukrainian Drone Assault on Moscow
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones were destroyed en route to the capital, with damage to the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building. [2] The attack killed two people and wounded 20 in the wider Moscow region, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. [2] The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said. [2] Smoke columns rose after strikes in an oil refinery in Moscow. [2] Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” drone attack on the Russian capital and said there had been damage to the Moscow Oil Refinery, which is among several sites that supply the Russian capital, and a residential building. [2] Across the wider Moscow region, the attack killed two people and wounded 20, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. [2] The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said. [2] Since Russia’s invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine has become a global leader in military drone technology, deploying domestically produced long-range drones alongside missiles for strikes deep inside Russia. [2] Its drone technology has impressed governments and defense manufacturers around the world. [2] Kyiv is aiming to make the Russian public feel the war’s consequences and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace settlement. [2] Putin has so far shown no signs he intends to stop the invasion. [2] Instead, Moscow and Kyiv have been drawn into an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer front line in eastern and southern Ukraine has slowed, restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots threatening troop movements. [2]
Russian Air Defenses Respond
Russia's Defense Ministry reported shooting down 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, Crimea and the Black Sea, plus eight cruise missiles. [2] Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine had also fired Flamingo cruise missiles and said it had downed nearly 2,000 Ukrainian drones targeting various regions and 8 cruise missiles in the last 24 hours. [3] Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 450 drones had been destroyed en route to the Russian capital, and that the attack had damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building. [2] He said the “unprecedented attack” on Moscow was an attempt to disrupt the elections. [2] "The enemy failed in this regard," he said. [2] "The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. [3] "This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed." [3]
Strike Timed With Parliamentary Elections
The drone assault coincided with the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections, which United Russia was leading with 57.5 percent of the vote. [2] The attack took place on the final day of Russia's first wartime parliamentary election — balloting that has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance. [2] Russia was also holding the vote in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began but still doesn’t fully control, and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. [2] Kyiv has denounced the action as illegal. [2] In a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine's Kherson region, a Ukrainian attack killed a member of the local electoral committee, Russia's Central Election Commission said in a statement. [2] Russian government officials accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the State Duma vote — the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022 — after Kyiv launched hundreds of drones at Moscow and other regions in what the TASS state news agency said was the biggest attack of its kind since the war began. [3] The drone strikes killed three people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine's Kherson region, including an election official, according to the region's governor and the election commission. [3] A facility at Moscow's oil refinery, which has been targeted before, was also damaged. [3] As voting got underway in the capital, flames and huge columns of smoke rose from the site on its outskirts. [3]
Election Results Show United Russia Lead
In a tightly controlled political system which critics say does not tolerate genuine dissent, initial results showed United Russia comfortably ahead with 57.5 percent of the vote. [3] Other parties like the Communists, the ultra-nationalist LDPR, the New People party and the Just Russia party — who all vote the same way as United Russia on major issues — trailed by a huge margin but were on course to win seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. [3] Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and a former president, was quick to declare that United Russia had performed with dignity, a result he said showed that Russians had entrusted it to govern further. [3] Central Election Commission Chairperson (CEC) Ella Pamfilova said the latest attacks had not deterred voters. [3] "The more pressure they put on us, the more we are seeing an unprecedented level of what I would call public unity," RIA news agency quoted her as saying. [3] Turnout had reached nearly 57 percent as of early evening Moscow time, CEC data showed. [3] Most anti-war candidates have been barred from the ballot. [3] Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict. [3] In a small act of defiance, Yabloko's leader, Nikolai Rybakov, demonstrably spoiled his ballot paper, writing his party's name and the slogan "For peace." [3]
Zelenskyy Details Ukrainian Objectives
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes targeted oil and logistics facilities using Flamingo and Pelican missiles to hit billions of dollars sustaining Russia's war machine. [2] Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv had used a range of missiles and drones in the attack -- including Ukraine’s domestically made Flamingo and Pelican missiles -- to hit oil and logistics facilities. [2] "These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine," Zelenskyy said, referring to the financial pressure that Kyiv hopes to put on Russia's economy. [2] Ukraine also continued to fend off Russian attacks, Zelenskyy said. [2] A Russian drone strike hit a monastery in Ukraine's Kherson region Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and wounding four people, he said. [2] A Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital also killed two children and their mother on Saturday evening, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration. [2] He later said that another child wounded in the same attack had died in hospital Sunday. [2] Separately, Zelenskyy said he spoke with US President Donald Trump Sunday. [2] Writing on X, Zelenskyy said they agreed they would meet next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. [2]
Kremlin Vows Retaliation
Russia's Defense Ministry said it would intensify its own strikes on Ukrainian military targets in response. [3] The Russian defence ministry said on Monday its forces hit multiple targets in Ukraine, including two cargo vessels used for the military, a gas distribution station, Izmail port infrastructure and the BDU Logistic centre in the Kyiv region. [4]
What to watch next: Zelenskyy said he spoke with US President Donald Trump Sunday and they agreed they would meet next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. [2] Russia's Defense Ministry said it would intensify its own strikes on Ukrainian military targets in response. [3]
