A wave of almost 600 Ukrainian drones struck Russia overnight, killing four people, authorities said on Sunday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as “entirely justified” retaliation for Moscow’s ongoing strikes on Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said air defences intercepted 556 drones across the country overnight, with another 30 shot down after dawn in one of the largest Ukrainian aerial attacks since the start of the war.
The interceptions — far higher than the usual few dozen reported — occurred across 14 Russian regions, as well as in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine, and over the Black and Azov seas.
Zelensky said Kyiv’s strike came days after a major Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian capital that killed at least 24 people.
“Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified,” he said.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said Moscow and its surrounding region experienced “the largest-scale attack since the full-scale invasion began” in February 2022.
In the Moscow region, governor Andrey Vorobyov said a woman was killed when a drone hit a private home, while two men also died in separate incidents. He added that four others were injured and infrastructure was damaged.
Within the capital, officials said air defences intercepted more than 80 drones, leaving 12 people wounded. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a strike near an oil and gas facility injured construction workers, though refinery operations were not disrupted.
One of the attacks damaged three residential buildings, he added.
In the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, another man was killed when a drone struck a lorry, local authorities said.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 279 of 287 Russian drones launched overnight in response.
Kyiv also said its strikes hit the Moscow oil refinery, the Solnechnogorsk oil depot, and several microelectronics facilities for the first time, claiming the operation targeted infrastructure linked to Russia’s war effort.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled, with both sides continuing to exchange long-range attacks following the expiry of a brief US-brokered truce earlier in the week.