Ukraine launched hundreds of drones deep into Russia overnight Saturday into Sunday, in what officials described as one of Kyiv's largest aerial attacks of the war, killing at least six people and wounding more than a dozen others across Russian territory.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said it shot down 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said roughly 600 drones were detected heading toward the Russian capital, with about a third destroyed over the Moscow region alone. An 83-year-old man was killed when a drone struck a private home in the Moscow region, and a warehouse belonging to the retail giant Wildberries caught fire in the town of Podolsk.
The deadliest strikes hit Russia's southwestern Rostov region, where more than 150 drones targeted three towns, killing five people, damaging homes and a railway station, and sparking a forest fire, according to regional governor Yury Slyusar.
Russia responded with its own strikes on Ukraine. Attacks on Kryvyi Rih killed one person and wounded 14, while a strike on Sumy killed one and a barrage on Kyiv injured six, according to Ukrainian officials.
A war of escalating strikes
The exchange is the latest sign that both sides have leaned further into long-range drone and missile warfare as the conflict, now in its fifth year, grinds on without a diplomatic resolution. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian military-industrial sites, energy infrastructure and now commercial logistics hubs such as the Wildberries warehouse, while Russia continues to strike Ukrainian population centers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the pattern of Russian retaliation continues to fall on civilians. "Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure," he said, according to NPR.
Neither government signaled any shift in strategy following the barrage. With peace talks stalled, analysts expect both sides to continue trading long-range strikes through the fall, testing air-defense systems and industrial capacity on both sides of the border.