Massive Ukrainian Drone Assault Targets Russia in One of the Largest Aerial Attacks of the Conflict

Russia reported that hundreds of Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight in what appears to be among Ukraine’s largest aerial assaults on Russian territory, leaving at least six people dead. Kyiv has increasingly launched barrages of drones at targets deep inside Russia, including industrial plants, refineries, and warehouses.

Russia’s state-run TASS News noted it was the largest Ukrainian drone attack since the beginning of the year, with numerous drones targeting the Moscow area, where many members of Russia’s elite reside. According to Andrey Vorobiev, governor of the Moscow region, air defense forces and electronic warfare units shot down and neutralized 187 drones over the area. Geolocated video captured a massive fire at a Wildberries warehouse in the Moscow region, the Russian equivalent of Amazon. Vorobiev confirmed that no one was injured in that incident. Wildberries warehouses have faced repeated Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months, prompting the company to announce plans for new warehousing in neighboring Kazakhstan. However, Vorobiev reported that an 83-year-old man was killed by a drone attack elsewhere in the region on Sunday.

Across southern and western Russia, drones were intercepted over 17 regions, according to the Russian Defense ministry. The governor of Rostov reported that five people were killed in that southern region.

Meanwhile, Russia persisted in its strikes against the Ukrainian capital Kyiv using a combination of drones and missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that six people were wounded by early Sunday strikes. Ballistic missiles also hit Kremenchuk and Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. Zelensky reported that two people were killed in Kryvyi Rih and another person died in Sumy in the north. An Air Force statement confirmed that Ukraine failed to shoot down any of the ballistic missiles fired overnight, underscoring the ongoing shortage of missile interceptors. According to Zelensky, Russia unleashed more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs, and 62 missiles at Ukraine over the past week. He added, "European interceptors cannot simply be allowed to sit in storage. Lives need to be protected. Russia must be stopped."

In a separate development, the Defense ministry in Bucharest reported that an unidentified drone was shot down Sunday in Romanian airspace. A Spanish F-18 fighter jet pilot on a NATO air policing mission intercepted the drone, marking the fourth time this year a drone has been shot down over Romania. Radar detected the drone entering the country from neighboring Moldova, with fragments falling in an uninhabited area situated between two villages. In July, Romanian F-16 fighter jet pilots shot down three Russian drones that breached national airspace for the first time following dozens of incursions during Moscow’s four-year invasion of Ukraine.