At least two people were killed and 18 others injured Tuesday when Ukraine launched its biggest-ever drone attack on Moscow, also shutting down four of its airports, Russian officials said.
A total of 337 drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over the Moscow region and 126 over the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been pulling back, the Defense Ministry said.
The dawn attack unfurled before U.S. officials met a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to seek an end to the three-year war and as Russian forces try to encircle thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the western Russian region of Kursk.
Kyiv has suffered repeated mass strikes from Russia throughout the war and said it was targeted by a ballistic missile and 126 drones Tuesday.
It has tried to hit back against its vastly bigger neighbour with repeated drone raids on oil refineries, airfields and even early-warning radar stations.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday’s was the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on the city, which along with the surrounding region has a population of at least 21 million and is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe.
A senior Russian lawmaker suggested Russia should retaliate for Tuesday’s raid by striking Ukraine with the “Oreshnik” hypersonic missile, which Moscow fired on Ukraine last November after the U.S. and UK allowed Kyiv to strike deeper into Russia with Western missiles.
Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, head of parliament’s defense committee and a former deputy defense minister, said such a decision was up to President Vladimir Putin. “But I think it would be useful – and not just one,” he said.
Miratorg, one of Russia’s biggest meat producers, said two employees were killed by falling debris.
Another 18 people were injured, including three children, as residences were also struck, Russian officials said.
Commuters unfazed
Moscow Region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov posted a picture of a wrecked apartment with blown-out windows. But there was no sign of panic: commuters went to work as normal.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow’s airports after the attacks, though they were later reopened. Flights were diverted to other cities.
Though U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to deliver peace in Ukraine, the war is heating up on the battlefield with a major Russian spring offensive in Kursk and a series of Ukrainian drone attacks deep into Russia.
Russia has developed a myriad of electronic “umbrellas” over Moscow and key installations, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings and a complex web of air defenses to shoot down drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.
The war, the biggest in Europe since World War II, has combined grinding trench and artillery warfare with the major innovation of drones.
Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them – from farmers’ shotguns to electronic jamming.
Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their own production.
Soldiers have reported a visceral fear of drones and both sides have used macabre footage of fatal strikes in their propaganda, with soldiers shown being blown apart in toilets or running from burning vehicles.
Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the war, has called Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants, “terrorism” and has vowed a response.
Moscow, by far Russia’s richest city, has boomed during the war, buoyed by the biggest defense spending splurge since the Cold War.
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