Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at targets across Russia overnight, including hundreds aimed at Moscow, in what the city’s mayor described as the largest drone attack ever recorded against the Russian capital.
The attack came on Sunday as Russia concluded the third and final day of its parliamentary elections.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 Ukrainian drones were destroyed while approaching the capital.
He added that the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building were damaged.
Across the wider Moscow region, two people were killed and 20 others injured, according to regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
The victims were identified as a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces destroyed 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, as well as over Crimea and the Black Sea.
Sobyanin described the assault as an “unprecedented attack” and accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt Russia’s elections.
He said the effort had failed to interfere with the voting process.
Ukraine targets war Infrastructure
Ukraine has increasingly relied on long-range drones and missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia, seeking to put pressure on Moscow and damage infrastructure supporting its war effort.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine used several types of missiles and drones in the latest attack, including its domestically produced Flamingo and Pelican missiles.
He said the strikes targeted oil and logistics facilities that support Russia’s military campaign.
“These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
The latest exchange comes as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front line in eastern and southern Ukraine has slowed in some areas, with drones and ground robots increasingly limiting troop movements.
Despite the pressure from Ukrainian attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no indication that Moscow intends to end the invasion.
Russian Strikes Kill Civilians in Ukraine
Ukraine also reported fresh Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy said a Russian drone strike hit a monastery in the Kherson region on Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and injuring four others.
In Kyiv, a Russian attack on Saturday evening killed a mother and two children, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration.
Tkachenko later said another child injured in the attack died in hospital on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said he spoke with US President Donald Trump on Sunday. He said the two leaders agreed to meet next week during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Attack comes during Russia’s election
The Ukrainian strikes occurred as Russia concluded its first wartime parliamentary election.
The vote has faced criticism over the lack of meaningful opposition to Putin and his policies.
Russia also held voting in four Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed, despite not fully controlling those territories.
Voting was also conducted in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Ukraine and much of the international community regard the annexations as illegal.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said a Ukrainian attack in an occupied part of the Kherson region killed a member of a local electoral committee.
The latest drone barrage highlights the growing role of long-range weapons in the Russia-Ukraine war, as both sides continue targeting infrastructure and military-related facilities far from the front line.
