A Ukrainian drones attack on the outskirts of the Russian capital

Russia announced Sunday that it had suffered one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks in four years, involving 500 aircraft, which killed at least three people in the Moscow suburbs.

Three days after deadly Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, which authorities there vowed to retaliate against, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 556 Ukrainian drones between 10:00 pm Saturday night and 7:00 am Sunday morning (local time).

These numerous drones were intercepted in the skies over 14 Russian regions, as well as areas in Crimea and the Sea of ​​Azov occupied by Russia in Ukraine, but the suburbs of Moscow were the most affected.

According to the governor of the Moscow region (which doesn’t include the capital itself), Andrei Vorobyov, “a woman was killed in the town of Khimki, northwest of Moscow, and two men were killed in a village belonging to the municipality of Mechi, northeast of the capital”.

He noted that four people were injured in the rest of the region, where several homes were damaged and infrastructure was attacked.

In Moscow itself, air defenses intercepted more than 80 drones, and an airstrike injured 12 people, most of them workers, at a construction site near an oil refinery, according to local authorities who confirmed that the refinery’s production wasn’t affected, and three residential buildings were damaged.

Ukraine is launching regular strikes inside Russian territory in retaliation for the daily shelling it has endured for more than four years.

It says its targeting military sites and energy facilities to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance its military operations within Ukraine.

Although the Moscow region, the area surrounding the capital, is frequently targeted by drone attacks, the city of Moscow itself, which is more than 400 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is rarely targeted, as this comes as diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled.

A three-day truce had allowed for a temporary halt to the bombing in areas far from the front lines, coinciding with Russia’s commemoration of the end of World War II and the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, but the attacks resumed immediately after the ceasefire ended late Monday night, a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.

At least 24 people were killed in long-range drone and missile attacks on Kyiv overnight Wednesday, according to a Ukrainian tally released Friday, and around 50 others were injured.

Following that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, “We’ve every right to retaliate by targeting the Russian oil industry, its military production, and all those directly responsible for war crimes committed against Ukraine and Ukrainians”.