Overnight drone barrage on Russia

Russia's defence ministry said air defences destroyed 610 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobianin, said 144 drones heading for the capital were shot down, which led to restrictions at the city's four main airports in a city of about 13 million people. The federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia announced temporary restrictions at other airports too. In Belgorod, a woman died and a man was injured in Ukrainian drone attacks, according to TASS citing local emergency services.

Total claimed by Russian defence ministry610

Heading for Moscow, per Sobianin144

Total claimed by Russian defence ministry

610 drones

Heading for Moscow, per Sobianin

144 drones

Data from the article text

Russian strikes on Ukrainian towns

Ukrainian authorities reported fresh Russian attacks on residential areas and infrastructure. In Kherson, an air strike killed an ambulance driver and injured 19 people, including a child, according to governor Oleksandr Prokudin. In Sloviansk, in Donetsk region, one person was killed in a strike on a residential area, which Ukrainian authorities said involved aerial bombs. In Vinnytsia, Natalia Zabolotna, head of the regional military administration, described the recent attacks as among the most intense since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Officials reported 24 drones shot down there, damage to civilian and critical infrastructure and at least six people injured, and critical facilities now run on backup power while crews try to restore electricity and water.

Strikes on shops and power networks

On Friday, 16 October, Russian drones hit a market, a shopping centre and at least two supermarkets in several towns and cities, according to regional authorities and President Volodymyr Zelensky. In Odesa, regional head Oleg Kiper said at least four people were injured and a supermarket was destroyed by fire, without naming the locality, while Telegram channels in the region said a wholesale supermarket in Mayaki was targeted. In Kharkiv, mayor Igor Terekhov said at least two people were killed and more than ten injured in a drone attack, and a shopping centre was damaged in Rivne. These strikes followed the deaths of six people in Lutsk on Wednesday, 14 October, when a Russian drone hit a supermarket.

Jet-powered drones and the energy truce

PUBLICO reports that about half of the drones Russia now launches against Ukraine are jet-powered, which makes them faster and harder to intercept. Ukrainian forces report growing difficulty protecting critical infrastructure, citing those drones, Russian missiles and a shortage of interceptors such as US-made Patriot missiles. On Monday, 28 September, jet-powered drones struck central Kyiv, hitting the National Academy of Sciences and a medical centre, where two scientists died and 24 people were injured, three of them children. Russia ignored an energy truce announced by US President Donald Trump, which Kyiv had respected for several days, according to Notícias ao Minuto. The Kremlin welcomed Trump's decision to suspend a new sanctions package against Russia that the US Congress had adopted.

Moscow's stated objectives

According to TASS, Putin urged continued attacks on Ukrainian defence industry facilities and logistics distribution centres, arguing they degrade Kyiv's military capacity and interrupt Western arms supplies. Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that during a visit to a command post, Putin ruled out concessions or peace negotiations over the security of Russia's border regions and called security zones along the front line a strategic priority. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, told Putin that troops had taken control of Dobropillia in Donetsk region and that air defences had shot down thousands of aerial targets and drones over the past month, according to defence ministry reports cited by Kommersant. The Central Bank of Russia attributed a fall in consumption to more cautious household behaviour.