Overnight, Ukraine launched over 1,000 drones into Russian territory, marking one of the most intense assaults on Moscow since the conflict began.
Many of these drones targeted Moscow on the last day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, as reported by CBS News. The Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, referred to this as the “largest ever” attack on the city, noting that air defenses managed to intercept 450 of them before they could reach the capital.
According to Sobyanin, some damage occurred at the Moscow Oil Refinery as well as at a residential building. The Russian Defense Ministry later stated that a total of 1,110 drones had been brought down across the country, including in Crimea and the Black Sea.
Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported two fatalities and around 20 injuries within the greater Moscow area. The deceased were identified as a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, with ABC News adding that emergency crews evacuated 400 residents, including 70 children, from a 21-story building in the Ramenskoye district.
A Sofyino resident named Vitaliy recounted his experience when a drone strike hit nearby: “Glass went flying; people started screaming and shouting. I turned around, and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere,” he shared with ABC News.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned that his forces employed a combination of drones and missiles, including domestically produced types like the Flamingo and Pelican, aimed at fuel and supply depots. “These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,” he noted on social media.
The Moscow refinery processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024. Ongoing attacks from Ukraine on such facilities have significantly reduced Russia’s refining capabilities, leading to fuel shortages and long queues at gas stations nationwide, according to ABC News.
In a related move, Washington showed support for Kyiv just days prior by approving a potential $2.68 billion sale of air defense systems, as mentioned by CBS News. This came around the same time that President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Russia following a prolonged delay from Congress.
The elections themselves posed little real opposition to President Vladimir Putin, taking place in four regions of Ukraine that Russia has illegally annexed, along with Crimea, as per CBS News. Sobyanin remarked that the attack aimed at disrupting the voting process ultimately fell short, stating, “The enemy failed in this regard.”
Meanwhile, Russian forces continued their own attacks, resulting in the deaths of a mother and her two children near Kyiv, according to CBS News.
