Ukraine sends 600 drones at Moscow in largest attack in two years; Russia strikes Kyiv with missiles, at least 12 dead

Overnight drone assault on Moscow

Ukraine launched one of its largest aerial offensives against Russian territory since the war began, sending approximately 600 drones toward the Moscow region between Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobianin said 201 drones were intercepted and destroyed by Russian air defenses before reaching their targets, and that three people were injured in the Moscow ring road area. Sobianin called the offensive the largest air attack on the Russian capital in two years, according to the state news agency TASS. The drones were launched between 20:00 on Saturday and 08:00 on Sunday, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.

Russian air defenses claimed to have intercepted 822 drones across 16 regions of the country, as well as over Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. RFI reported a figure of 828 from the same ministry. The attacks struck border areas including Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk, southern regions such as Krasnodar and Rostov, and central Russian areas including Tula, Ryazan, Oryol and Kaluga.

Casualties and damage on Russian soil

In the Rostov region bordering Ukraine, governor Yuri Sliusar confirmed three civilians killed in a residential area, with over 150 drones downed across nine districts of the region. El Mundo and RFI reported five deaths in Rostov. In the Moscow region, governor Andrei Vorobiov said an 83-year-old man died when a drone fell on his house, and reported 187 drones intercepted in the region, a figure that differs from Sobianin's 201. Vorobiov described the assault as "one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory." A death was also reported in the Belgorod region. Russian authorities said at least 201 civilians died in July from Ukrainian attacks, mostly drone strikes, while the independent Russian group Conflict Intelligence Team estimated 634 civilian casualties on both sides that month, roughly two-thirds of them Ukrainian.

In Domodedovo, about 20 kilometers south of Moscow, a pharmaceutical warehouse was hit and caught fire, with black smoke visible from several kilometers away. In Podolsk, 36 kilometers from central Moscow, a Wildberries e-commerce warehouse, the largest in Russia at approximately 200,000 square meters, was also struck and set ablaze. All staff were evacuated in time, the company said.

Russian strikes on Ukraine

Russia simultaneously attacked Ukrainian cities with drones and ballistic missiles. In Kryvyi Rih, the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelensky, a barrage struck the ArcelorMittal steel plant, one of Ukraine's largest steel producers, killing two people and wounding 14. The plant partially halted operations after its main production facilities were damaged. Two people died in the Zaporizhia region and one in the Sumy border region, according to El Mundo. In Kyiv, ballistic missiles triggered air alerts shortly after 2:00 a.m., with explosions heard just before 3:00 a.m. A fire broke out in a non-residential building in the Obolonsky district after debris fell, and several vehicles burned. The capital's open-air book market at Pochaina, known for rare and antique volumes, was set ablaze.

Bookseller Dmitro Semenuja, 45, watched his four stalls burn.

Before there was a shop. And books, and flags of all countries. Tons of everything. And this is what remained.

Zelensky's response

President Zelensky said in a social media post that "wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they attack civilian infrastructure." He said that in the past week alone, Ukrainian cities had been hit with "more than 1,550 attack drones, almost 1,560 guided aerial bombs and 62 missiles," and renewed his call for allies to provide more air defense systems. The cross-border escalation comes as civilian casualties in Ukraine have reached their highest level since the early months of the war that Russia launched in February 2022.