1,000 drones & cruise missiles: Ukraine launches largest attack against Russia

The attack caused multiple fires, most dramatically at the Kapotnya oil refinery in south-east Moscow

Moscow came under the largest Ukrainian strike since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, officials on both sides said, as nearly 200 drones battered the Russian capital and air defences across the country intercepted almost 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles and four Ukrainian cruise missiles in 24 hours.Russia’s defence ministry said its forces destroyed “almost 1,000 drones and four cruise missiles” launched from Ukrainian territory. The barrage included close to 200 drones that struck targets around Moscow, triggering huge plumes of black smoke visible across the city and forcing temporary closures at four airports that led to more than 500 cancelled or delayed flights.The attack caused multiple fires, most dramatically at the Kapotnya oil refinery in south-east Moscow — hit for the third time in a month and the second time this week.Videos circulated widely on social media showed the lid of a large oil storage tank hurled dozens of metres into the air by a powerful blast.

A nearby shopping centre also burned after debris reportedly fell on the building, and several residential high-rises were evacuated.Local authorities said 17 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported.An oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region was also struck, where officials reported one fatality.

Authorities have sought to limit coverage of the strikes inside Russia, banning publication of images of the aftermath in many areas, yet dozens of videos showing drones and explosions were nevertheless posted online.

'Long range sanction'

President Volodymyr Zelensky framed the operation as a response to last week’s Russian assault on Kyiv that set a major religious landmark ablaze.“We don’t want this war and have never wanted it,” he said, insisting Kyiv’s long-range raids were aimed at pressuring Moscow to pursue diplomacy.

“But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too,” he warned, calling the strikes “long-range sanctions” — a deliberate euphemism Ukraine has used to stress the targeting of Russian infrastructure and military assets.The scale of the latest operation underscores how Kyiv’s long-range strike capabilities have grown since the first successful drone incursions into Moscow in spring 2023.

Why this attack is different

Those early attacks were small and sporadic; by contrast, the latest wave used hundreds of drones in coordinated fashion to overwhelm air defences and reach deep into Russian territory roughly 500km from the Ukrainian border.Moscow has gradually fortified air defences around its capital, deploying layered systems intended to intercept incoming missiles and drones. But analysts say Ukraine’s production and operational tempo for lower-cost drones, plus increasingly sophisticated attack packages and routing tactics, have raised the chances of successful penetrations.The strikes mark an escalation in what has become an increasingly cross-border and attritional phase of the war.While much of the fighting remains concentrated along front lines inside Ukraine, Kyiv’s ability to strike Russian military sites, energy infrastructure and logistics nodes — and to show those effects to a global audience — is central to its strategy of “bringing the war home” to Russian citizens and eroding domestic political support for the Kremlin’s policies.Russia, for its part, has continued its own overnight strikes on Ukraine: Kyiv reported that Moscow launched more than 200 drones and multiple ballistic missiles at Ukrainian territory in a separate barrage.Russian President Vladimir Putin, hosting Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in Kazan, had not publicly commented on the large-scale attack on Moscow by the time of reporting.Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on social media that ordinary Muscovites were only now seeing the consequences of a war Moscow began, urging them to ask their leaders when it will end.As both sides trade strikes deeper into each other’s territory, experts warn the conflict risks further escalation and continued damage to civilian infrastructure far from the front lines.