Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Russian capital, local authorities have said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanian said on social media on Sunday morning that a total of 127 UAVs had been destroyed by air defenses during the previous 24 hours. He described the raid as “massive.”

The attack appeared to be one of the largest Ukrainian drone raids targeting Moscow in more than a year.

There have been several major UAV attacks on the capital in recent months, but the number of drones deployed by Kiev during them never exceeded 65.

Fatalities in Moscow Region

Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev confirmed that three people were killed during the attack.

Two men died when the debris of a downed drone fell on a home construction site in the village of Pogorelki near the city of Mytishchi, adjacent to Moscow in the north-east, he said.

Another UAV struck an apartment block, killing a female resident in the city of Khimki, north-west of the capital, while another person remained trapped under the rubble, according to Vorobyev.

In Istra, some 50 km north-west of Moscow, four people were wounded when an apartment block and six private homes were hit, he said.

Residential areas and infrastructure facilities have also been targeted in other parts of the region, the governor added.

In the town of Lobnya, north of Moscow, a woman was injured in a drone attack that left five apartment blocks and 20 cars damaged, the local authorities said.

Strike on Moscow Oil Refinery

A total of 12 people were wounded in Moscow as a result of the raid, according to Sobyanin.

Most of those injured were construction workers affected by an explosion near the entrance to the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya District in the north-east of the city, he said. The refinery’s operations weren’t affected by the incident, he added.

Air traffic disruptions

More than 200 flights were delayed or canceled at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo international airports as the authorities introduced air traffic restrictions during the drone raid. Some of the incoming passenger jets had to be redirected to other airfields.

Sheremetyevo’s press service said that the debris of a Ukrainian drone hit the ground inside the airport’s premises, but didn’t cause any injuries or destruction.

Incursions across Russia

The capital and Moscow Region weren’t the only targets of Kiev’s UAVs on Sunday night, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting the destruction of a total of 586 drones across the country.

The additional interceptions took place not only parts of Russia bordering Ukraine (Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk region) but also deep inside the country, including in Kaluga, Tula, Smolensk, Pskov, Tver, Rostov and Krasnodar Regions, as well as over Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.

Escalation of raids in recent months

Ukrainian drone raids deep inside Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev launching hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on an almost daily basis against residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and industrial facilities far from the front.

The Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks Kiev’s military has been suffering on the battlefield.
Moscow has responded with long-range missile and drone strikes targeting Ukraine’s military, energy and other dual-use infrastructure. Russian officials insist the operations are aimed solely at assets supporting Kiev’s war effort and not at civilian targets.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian media and Telegram channels reported more explosions near the country’s capital Kiev as well as in the cities of Kharkov and Dnepr, and parts of Zaporozhye Region which remain under Ukraine’s control.