Russia reported on Sunday that it successfully repelled a “massive” Ukrainian drone assault targeting energy and fuel facilities in Moscow and 14 other regions, marking one of the largest strikes since the conflict began over two and a half years ago.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure in recent months as retaliation for Moscow’s missile strikes that have severely damaged Ukraine’s own energy network since the invasion began in February 2022.
President Volodymyr Zelensky defended Ukraine’s actions, stating on Facebook, “It is entirely justified for Ukrainians to respond to Russian terror by any means necessary to stop it.”
The Russian defense ministry revealed that 158 drones were launched in the latest attack, with most being intercepted over the Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh, and Belgorod regions, which border Ukraine. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 10 drones targeted various areas in and around the capital, one of which ignited a fire at an oil refinery within the city limits, while a coal-fired power plant was also targeted.
This drone barrage followed a massive Russian missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure just days earlier, one of the largest such attacks to date. The renewed violence also comes nearly a month after Ukraine launched an offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, crossing the border and capturing territory as Russian troops made slow but steady advances in eastern Ukraine.
In Moscow, Mayor Sobyanin confirmed that a downed drone hit a “technical building” at the Gazprom-owned Moscow oil refinery in the Kapotnya area. The fire was quickly localized, and there was no threat to people or the refinery’s operations. In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, five drones targeted the area around the Konakovo power plant, causing a fire that was swiftly extinguished, according to Governor Igor Rudenya.
Mikhail Shuvalov, a local official in the Moscow region, reported that three drones attempted to hit the Kashira coal-fired power station, but there were no casualties or damage, and no fire was reported.
Russian military blogger Rybar, who has over 1.3 million followers, described the night’s drone attack by Ukrainian forces as “the most massive since the start of the special military operation” in 2022.
In Belgorod, a later Ukrainian attack on Sunday afternoon injured 11 people, including two children, and caused widespread damage to residential buildings. Meanwhile, in the Donetsk region, Russian forces continued their advance towards the city of Pokrovsk. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, acknowledged that the situation was “difficult” in the face of the enemy’s main offensive.
At least three people were killed and nine others injured by shelling near the town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin. Russia also claimed control of two new villages in the region, Ptyche near Pokrovsk and Vyyimka further northeast.
On Sunday afternoon, Russia launched a missile strike on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring 47 people, including seven children. The attack caused extensive damage, with the National Police reporting 21 injuries at a shopping center and 18 at a sports center, five of whom were children.
Rescue efforts were underway, with emergency services searching the rubble for survivors. The attack caused widespread destruction, with an AFP photographer witnessing rescuers pulling an injured person from the debris at the Sports Palace.
Prosecutors said Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at a shopping center and three at the Sports Palace, with additional missiles hitting near the sports center. The energy ministry confirmed that an energy facility in the city was also targeted.
Kharkiv was also hit on Friday by an aerial strike that killed seven people, including a teenage girl. President Zelensky condemned the attacks, calling on global leaders to provide Ukraine with more weapons to defend itself and urging them to show the “courage to give Ukraine everything it needs to defend itself.”
