Ukraine Launches Over 1,000 Drones at Russia in Largest-Ever Attack on Moscow

Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at targets across Russia over the weekend. Hundreds of those unmanned aircraft were launched toward Moscow in what local officials described as the largest-ever aerial assault on the capital.

Record Aerial Assault Targets Moscow

The coordinated wave of strikes on Sunday coincided with the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections. It compounded an escalating exchange of long-range aerial attacks that has seen heavy civilian casualties on both sides of the front line.

Destruction and Casualties in the Capital Region

Russian officials stated that the vast drone offensive struck across the country. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 450 drones alone were destroyed or intercepted while en route to the capital.

Photo: firstpost.com

The strikes caused structural damage to a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building. Across the wider Moscow region, the attacks killed a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, and wounded 20 other people, according to regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov.

Kyiv Deploys Domestic Missiles Against Infrastructure

Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv deployed a combination of domestic missiles and long-range drones—specifically citing Ukraine-produced Flamingo and Pelican missiles—to strike Russian oil and logistics infrastructure.

“These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,” Zelenskyy wrote, outlining Kyiv’s strategy to inflict severe economic pressure on Moscow and force the Russian public to feel the consequences of the war.

Elections Under Fire in Russia and Occupied Territories

Sobyanin maintained that the unprecedented assault was timed to disrupt the Kremlin’s parliamentary elections, though he asserted that “the enemy failed in this regard.” The balloting concluded its third and final day on Sunday, marking Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election.

Photo: cbsnews.com

The vote took place in an environment virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s administration, and included voting organized in Crimea and four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Moscow. Kyiv has denounced the inclusion of occupied Ukrainian territories in the vote as entirely illegal.

Heavy Toll on Civilians Along the Front Lines

While Kyiv targeted infrastructure deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine continued to absorb heavy aerial bombardment from Russian forces along the broader front lines and in urban centers.

Zelenskyy reported that a Russian drone strike hit a monastery in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and injuring four other people. In a separate strike on the Ukrainian capital on Saturday evening, a Russian attack killed a mother and her two children, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration. Tkachenko confirmed Sunday that another child who sustained injuries in the same Kyiv attack had died in the hospital.

The back-and-forth aerial campaigns unfold as the conflict stretches into its fifth year, with fighting concentrated along a roughly 1,250-kilometer front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.