Russia says 604 Ukrainian drones downed overnight as Kharkiv strike kills three

Drones over Russia

Russian officials said air defences overnight intercepted and destroyed 604 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 15 Russian regions and the Sea of Azov. The Russian Defence Ministry announced the figure on Telegram, and most of the drones were aimed at the Moscow region.

Moscow mayor Dmitri Sobianin said 217 drones were launched toward the Moscow region between 20:30 on Monday and 07:00 on Tuesday, 13 October. He said 65 were destroyed near Moscow and five more on the city's outskirts, with most neutralised by air defences far from the city. Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo airports temporarily suspended operations, the civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia said on Telegram.

In Kaluga region, about 180 kilometres southwest of Moscow, governor Vladislav Shapsha said 73 drones were shot down overnight, according to a post on the MAX network. In the Mosalsky district, a school, two private houses and a car were damaged. Neither official nor independent Russian or Ukrainian outlets reported damage to critical infrastructure, including refineries.

Strikes on Ukrainian cities

Russian attacks killed three people in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, when a strike hit the residential building where they were. Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said rescue teams found the three bodies under rubble. He also reported a second attack that damaged a multistorey residential building, and said the targets were ordinary apartment buildings with no military targets.

SIC Notícias gave different tallies for the same night. It reported one dead and 11 injured in Kharkiv, and said a drone hit a residential building in Kyiv, killing two and injuring about ten people. Across Ukraine it counted at least three dead and several injured. A train travelling from Odesa to Kyiv made an emergency stop, and passengers left the carriages to take shelter.

Russian claims on military targets

The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces overnight struck Ukrainian military industrial sites, logistics centres, rail and port infrastructure, and ships carrying military cargo with missiles and drones. In Kyiv it named a workshop of Pulp Mill Print, which it said made long-range missiles and drones, and the Darnitsa locomotive depot. In Mykolaiv region it named a Nova Poshta logistics centre in Ternivka and a drone depot in Meshkovo-Pogorelovo.

The ministry also said a bulk carrier bound for Mykolaiv port was hit in the Bug estuary. SIC reported separately that an attack damaged an industrial area in southern Russia that is an important chemical production hub. The sources contain no independent confirmation of the ministry's list of targets.

Energy truce and the Kremlin's position

SIC reported that US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the energy truce between Russia and Ukraine, which he had announced days earlier on his own initiative, was fully in effect. Volodymyr Zelensky reacted with surprise but said he would accept an energy ceasefire if Moscow showed the same willingness. The Kremlin declined to say whether Russia would join the suspension of attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and instead called for a lasting peace while keeping contacts about the ceasefire Trump had announced.

SIC said Russia had significantly intensified attacks on Ukraine since the summer, mainly targeting the capital with jet drones, which are harder to intercept than conventional ones.

Child deaths in the war

Separately, the independent Russian outlet Meduza reported on 12 October that nearly 1,000 minors have died in Ukraine and Russia since Moscow launched the war in February 2022, at least 940 by its count. Its analysis covered deaths in Ukraine within 1991 borders, including Crimea and the occupied regions, while Russian figures covered only internationally recognised territory. Meduza said 873 deaths in Ukraine and 67 in Russia could be confirmed as of September 2026, an initial estimate it said could be far lower than the real toll. It also said child deaths this year had risen compared with other periods of the war.