At least three people have died this Saturday in an intense Ukrainian attack on Moscow, two days after another bombing, this time Russian, killed at least 24 civilians in Kiev on Thursday, including three girls. The action, which hit the outskirts of the Russian capital in what is one of the largest attacks on Moscow throughout the war, was part of a broader wave over other regions, which included more than half a thousand Ukrainian drones.
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Among the targets were refineries and military technology factories, but the devices also hit residential buildings. According to residents, the authorities did not sound the air raid sirens or warn the entire population with SMS messages, as other regions accustomed to war do.
“Our response to the prolongation of the war by Russia and its attacks on our cities is fully justified. This time, Ukraine’s long-range actions have reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians that their country must end the war,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I didn’t think the war would reach our city, Zelenograd,” said a young woman from this town on the outskirts of Moscow in a video that has gone viral on social media. Other residents showed burning cars and destroyed buildings in their videos and photos, despite the fact that the authorities of the Moscow region and its capital have banned showing and commenting on the effects of Ukrainian drone bombings this week.
The Kremlin probably expected a Ukrainian response to its bombings. On the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a ballistic missile hit a residential building in Kiev, killing at least 24 people. The attack occurred just days after the three-day truce that US President Donald Trump managed to agree on expired, allowing the Kremlin to celebrate Victory Day without the Ukrainian threat.
This peace has been an illusion. The war of the cities has intensified with one of the most intense Ukrainian attacks on the Russian capital in the four years of war, despite Moscow being shielded with several rings of air defenses. “The concentration of Russian air defenses in the Moscow region is the highest, but we are overcoming it,” Zelensky said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have shot down up to 1,054 Ukrainian drones, eight guided aerial bombs, and “two next-generation missiles” in the last 24 hours. Of these, 556 drones were supposedly hit at night. Kiev has not yet confirmed whether its action included its new long-range Flamingo rockets.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, more than 120 drones were shot down while approaching the capital on Saturday morning.
The bombings have killed at least three people in cities on the outskirts of Moscow. In Khimki, a woman died from the impact of a drone on her home, and in a village in Mytishchi, a man and a woman died from an explosion in a house under construction. More injuries were reported in other suburbs due to drone impacts on residential buildings.
Analyses from the Astra and Supernova+ news channels indicate that the targets included an office of the cruise missile manufacturer Raduga in Dubna, an electronics and optics factory located in Zelenograd, an important petroleum product transshipment station in Durykino, and possibly the vicinity of Sheremetyevo civil airport, the facility from which the Russian flag carrier airline, Aeroflot, operates.
Some images show a fire on one of the airport runways, far from the terminals. According to the Ministry of Transport, the capital’s four airports are operating normally, and only about fifty flights have been diverted or canceled. In previous attacks, especially on holidays, cancellations reached into the hundreds.
One of the Ukrainian targets was a refinery in the capital located in the Kapotnya district. There, at least 12 people were injured, Sobyanin reported on his Telegram channel, mostly construction workers living near a checkpoint of the complex.
The Moscow mayor also announced that another attack caused “minor damage where the drone debris fell,” although he did not specify the area.
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