Ukraine launched one of its largest aerial assaults on Russia overnight on Saturday, firing on targets deep inside the country and killing at least six people, according to Russian authorities.
Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed 822 drones. Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said in a Telegram post that at least 600 drones were launched toward the capital city and that over a third were destroyed.
The raid showcased the rapid advancement of Ukraine’s drone and missile capabilities in recent months, which enabled it to strike deep inside Russian territory despite the country’s advanced defense networks.
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Calling the assault one of the “most massive drone attacks in recent memory,” the Moscow region’s Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram that one of the people killed in the attack was an 83-year-old man who died when a drone “crashed onto a private home.”
Five others were killed in the Rostov region, according to its governor, Yury Slyusar. Ukraine said it had been targeting a factory that produced rocket fuel.
Vorobyov added that several people were also injured in the Podolsk area amid a fire caused by drone strikes on a warehouse belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries, which is often compared to Amazon in the U.S.
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly struck warehouses belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer in an attempt to disrupt the country’s consumer economy. Last week, Ukraine hit at least two warehouses, accusing the company of handling military goods and calling its locations military-linked “logistics centers.” Ukraine has attacked approximately 20 Wildberries warehouses since July 18.
“Ukraine has taken 7 of Wildberries’ 10 largest logistics hubs out of operation,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said on social media Sunday. “Russian logistics is feeling the consequences of the war Russia brought to Ukraine.”
Wildberries and Moscow have both denied that these warehouses are affiliated with the military.
The attacks demonstrate Ukraine’s growing capabilities to launch strikes deep into Russian territory, up to 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from the countries’ shared border.
In over four years since the war’s start, Ukraine has worked to rely less on Western aid—something President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been very vocal about in recent months, especially as he decried a “critical shortage of air defense missiles,” including the U.S.-made Patriot missiles that have been integral in intercepting and destroying Russian drones.
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Russia Strikes Ukraine as NATO Downs Drone Over Romania
Russia also carried out an intense barrage against Ukraine over the weekend, killing two people at a steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, which is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The plant, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, posted about the incident on Telegram, sharing that 13 employees were injured.
“As a result of the attack, the main production facilities of energy and blast furnace production were damaged and the production processes of the plant were partially stopped,” the company wrote.
Russian attacks also sparked fires throughout Kyiv, wounding six people. In total, at least seven people were killed and 51 injured in Russian strikes over the weekend, according to casualty figures reported by regional Ukrainian authorities.
“Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on X in the aftermath of the attacks.
A NATO jet on an air policing mission also shot down an unidentified drone in Romanian airspace on Saturday—the fourth unmanned aircraft shot down over the country this year, Romania’s defense ministry said Sunday.
Romania’s defense ministry did not identify the drone’s origin, but it said the aerial target entered from Moldova.