Ukraine Launches Major Drone Strikes on Russia, Resulting in Multiple Casualties

Ukraine executed one of its most extensive drone offensives against Russia, resulting in at least four fatalities and over a dozen injuries, according to Russian authorities. The attacks targeted multiple regions near Moscow, including Khimki and Pogorelki, as well as Belgorod, damaging residential and infrastructural sites. Debris from drones also fell on Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, though no disruptions were reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes, stating they were "entirely justified." He emphasized that these actions were in response to recent Russian attacks on Kyiv.

In the Moscow region, a woman was killed after a drone hit her home in Khimki, and two men died in the village of Pogorelki. Additionally, a man was killed in the Belgorod region when a drone struck a truck. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that at least 12 people were wounded in the nighttime strike, mostly near the entrance to the city's oil refinery, noting that the refinery's technology hadn't been damaged.

Russian air defenses reportedly intercepted over a thousand drones in the past 24 hours, with 81 targeting Moscow alone.

Concurrently, Russia launched overnight drone attacks on Ukraine, injuring eight civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region, including in Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih. Residential buildings were damaged in all three locations.

Analyst Nigel Gould Davies described Ukraine's large-scale attack as "the retaliation or revenge that President Zelenskyy promised after the fierce attacks that Russia carried out on Kyiv." He noted that the strikes bring home the fact that Ukraine has the capacity to strike at significant scale at or around the Russian capital, taking the war home to Russians in a way that would be "most unwelcome" to the Kremlin.