Moscow hit by 600 drones overnight as Kyiv comes under ballistic missile attack, six dead
Moscow faced a drone barrage of 600 aircraft overnight on 16 August, with 201 intercepted around the capital, while Kyiv came under ballistic missile attack leaving six dead across both countries.
Drone assault on Moscow
Moscow faced an overnight drone barrage from Saturday to Sunday, 16 August, with 600 drones identified heading toward the Russian capital. Sobyanin described the assault as being of rare scale for the city. On the Russian messaging platform Max, he said 201 of those drones were shot down in the region directly surrounding the capital. RTBF separately reported that air defence intercepted at least 96 drones threatening Moscow, a figure that may refer to a narrower scope around the city itself. At least three people were injured in the attack, according to the mayor.
Since the February 2022 offensive, Moscow, hundreds of kilometres from the front line, had been less frequently targeted than Russian regions bordering Ukraine. In recent months, however, the capital has faced increasing strikes as Kyiv's forces intensify long-range attacks on Russian territory.
Ballistic missile strike on Kyiv
Ukraine's capital came under a ballistic missile attack the same night. Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the strike on Telegram as an air alert swept the city.
Kyiv is under attack with ballistic missiles. Stay in shelters!
An AFP journalist heard explosions shortly before 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT). The Kyiv military administration reported three injured, while RTBF cited at least one. Rescue services said the attack caused a major fire in a market. Klitschko also reported fires at three separate locations involving non-residential buildings across the capital.
- 600 drones identified heading toward Moscow; 201 shot down in surrounding region per Sobyanin
- Explosions heard in Kyiv from ballistic missile attack; air alert triggered
- Authorities report 6 dead total across both countries; fires at multiple sites in Kyiv
Casualties across both countries
Authorities in both countries reported a total of six dead overnight. Three were killed in Russia's Rostov region in the southwest. In Ukraine, two were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south and one in Kryvyi Rih in the centre.
- Rostov region
- 3
- Zaporizhzhia region
- 2
- Kryvyi Rih
- 1
In Kryvyi Rih, the industrial city in central Ukraine where President Volodymyr Zelensky grew up, authorities said a missile and drone attack targeted two industrial enterprises. Regional governor Oleksandre Ganja reported one killed and six wounded.
Mounting toll over the summer
Both sides have intensified their long-range strike campaigns, with Russia deploying ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian cities and Ukraine launching increasingly large drone swarms against Russian territory. The conflict, four and a half years after Russia's large-scale invasion, has become the deadliest in Europe since the Second World War. According to a report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), last month was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since May 2022, with 437 dead and 2,610 wounded. Kyiv alone accounted for at least 54 dead and 202 wounded, as Russian forces repeatedly bombarded the capital with ballistic and cruise missiles.
In early August, a series of strikes on Kyiv and its region killed at least 17 people. Ukraine, facing a shortage of interceptors, did not manage to shoot down a single Russian missile during that attack. Russia fired a record number of missiles on Ukraine in July, according to an AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force daily reports, as Kyiv presses US President Donald Trump to provide more resources to counter the attacks.
