Ukraine Fires Over 1,000 Drones at Russia

Ukraine fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds aimed at Moscow, in what the city's mayor called the largest attack ever on the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones heading for the city were shot down, and DW reported that Russia had intercepted more than 1,600 drones in total since Saturday. Sobyanin said several drones reached an oil refinery, damaging a facility there, and another struck a residential building near one of the capital's boulevards.

Two people were killed and six injured in the Moscow region, according to regional Governor Andrei Vorobyev. He said a 44-year-old woman died in Sofyino after a drone hit a three-story residential building, and an elderly man was killed when a private house was struck in the Orekhovo-Zuevo district. Five others, including two children, were injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike hit a key Russian oil facility and a logistics site, saying the refinery represents "billions of dollars that sustain the war machine." Over the same period, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least four people in the Kyiv region, including a mother and her two 3-year-old children, DW reported, while BBC cited Ukrainian officials putting the toll at eight across the Kyiv and Sumy regions.

The context

The attack came on the third and final day of voting in Russia's parliamentary elections, a process the BBC described as tightly controlled by the Kremlin and dismissed by critics as neither free, fair nor transparent. Sobyanin said the strike was planned to disrupt the vote, and Russian state media reported an election official was among two people killed by a drone strike on a bus in a Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine's Kherson region on Sunday.

Both countries have intensified strikes in recent weeks, targeting energy-generating facilities, transport infrastructure and logistics hubs. DW reported that this has continued despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying both sides had agreed to stop hitting energy infrastructure. Ukraine's repeated strikes on Russian refineries have caused oil product shortages and fuel price increases inside Russia, according to DW. Russia, for its part, has repeatedly carried out drone attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, and its Defense Ministry said its latest strikes hit a warehouse belonging to drone and missile maker Fire Point in the Kyiv region, plus a cargo vessel and a postal logistics center in the Odesa region it said were used for military shipments.

Why it matters

The scale of the strike marks a new high point in Ukraine's long-range drone campaign against Russia, reaching Moscow itself with hundreds of drones. Refinery strikes have already pushed up fuel prices and created shortages in Russia, and Zelenskyy framed the target as a direct source of war funding. The timing during Russia's parliamentary vote adds political weight, with Russian officials casting the attack as an attempt at election disruption. The continued targeting of energy infrastructure by both sides also cuts against the agreement DW said Trump claimed both countries had reached.

What’s next

The extent of damage to the refinery has not been confirmed, and any effect on Russian fuel supplies remains unclear. Results from Russia's parliamentary elections are due after Sunday's final day of voting. Both sides have escalated strikes on energy and logistics targets in recent weeks, so further exchanges are likely; whether the stated agreement to stop targeting energy infrastructure holds is an open question.