Moscow Repels Mass Drone Barrage as Russian Strikes Kill Five Across Ukraine
Moscow – Russia said it intercepted nearly 60 drones approaching Moscow overnight, temporarily disrupting air traffic in the capital, while Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian missile and drone strikes killed at least five people and damaged civilian infrastructure across several regions.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Monday that air defence systems destroyed almost 60 drones headed toward the Russian capital. Emergency services were dispatched to locations where debris fell, though officials provided no immediate details on casualties or damage.
The attacks prompted temporary flight suspensions at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovskiy airports before operations later resumed, according to Russia’s aviation authorities.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said a total of 301 drones were intercepted overnight, including over Russian-controlled territories in occupied areas of Ukraine. The latest wave of attacks followed renewed Ukrainian strikes last week on Moscow’s only oil refinery, one of the most significant assaults on the Russian capital since the full-scale war began in 2022.
In Ukraine, regional authorities reported civilian casualties in several areas following Russian attacks.
In the northeastern Sumy region, prosecutors said a drone strike killed three members of the same family — a 13-year-old boy, his 36-year-old father and his 73-year-old grandmother. The boy’s mother and two siblings were injured.
Further south, a drone attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed one woman and wounded three others, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
In the Odesa region, Governor Oleh Kiper said a Russian Iskander ballistic missile struck an agricultural facility on Sunday evening, killing one person and injuring three others. The attack sparked fires involving vehicles and fuel storage tanks.
Security concerns also intensified in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Sevastopol authorities cancelled all outdoor public events on Monday and ordered street lighting to remain switched off as a precautionary measure.
Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev urged residents to reduce electricity consumption amid growing pressure on regional energy supplies. Authorities have also restricted fuel sales to government agencies and essential services after repeated Ukrainian strikes on logistics routes and energy infrastructure contributed to shortages.
Ukraine’s navy said Russian drones also targeted commercial shipping in the Black Sea overnight, damaging three merchant vessels.
One of the vessels, the Panamanian-flagged dry cargo ship Victress, operated by Turkey-based Rana Denizcilik according to shipping data, sustained significant damage after being struck by a drone. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said a 58-year-old Egyptian crew member was killed and eight others, including Turkish and Indian nationals, evacuated the vessel aboard a lifeboat.
Kuleba said two additional merchant vessels sailing under the flags of Palau and Belize were also attacked but continued their voyages without reported casualties.
The incidents underscore the continued risks facing commercial shipping in the Black Sea, where attacks on ports, vessels and export routes have become a recurring feature of the conflict and have disrupted regional trade since the war began.
The latest exchanges highlight the growing use of long-range drones by both sides as the conflict increasingly extends beyond front-line battlefields and into major urban centers, critical infrastructure networks and international maritime corridors.
