Ukraine launches large drone raid on Moscow as Russia intensifies missile strikes

Ukraine deployed over 400 drones toward Moscow on Monday, the city’s mayor said, sparking a blaze at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park where a Wildberries warehouse is located. The attack follows earlier Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian forces also hit logistics facilities, an oil depot in Podolsk about 20 km south of Moscow, and two vessels of Russia’s shadow fleet carrying sanctioned oil, as well as four dry cargo ships in the Black Sea.

The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russia has launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine in July than it is believed to produce each month, suggesting the use of stockpiled weapons.

In Ukraine, a Russian strike on an infrastructure site in Odesa killed at least three people and injured three others, while additional fatalities were reported in Pavlograd, Kramatorsk and the Zaporizhzhia region. The Odesa regional governor said the area has faced daily shelling since the start of July, with up to 15 air-raid alerts on some days.

Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi is expected to be replaced, according to statements from the president’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, who said the public’s concerns are being addressed and urged calm.

In Russia’s Belgorod border region, Ukrainian strikes killed six people, including a passenger coach driver, while Kyiv reported eight deaths from Russian attacks.

A cargo vessel flagged to Guinea-Bissau was hit by Russian forces after leaving Odesa, killing ten crew members, among them five Syrian sailors. India confirmed four of its nationals were among the dead, and Syria condemned the attack on vessels with Syrian crews.