Moscow targeted in 'largest ever' barrage as 1,100 Ukrainian drones strike Russia

Ukrainian forces launched an unprecedented barrage of more than 1,000 drones into Russian territory overnight, striking energy infrastructure and residential areas while mounting what Moscow’s mayor called the "largest ever" aerial assault on the capital.

Across the wider Moscow region, the overnight strikes killed two people — a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman — and wounded 20 others, according to regional Govornor Andrei Vorobyov, according to a AP report.

Russia's Ministry of Defense confirmed that its air defense network intercepted 1,100 Ukrainian drones nationwide, including over the occupied Crimean peninsula and the waters of the Black Sea.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that 450 of the incoming drones were intercepted while en route to the capital. Despite the active countermeasures, debris and direct impacts inflicted damage on the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building.

According to reports, fires are visible in multiple locations at the Kapotnya oil refinery in Moscow. The refinery, Moscow's largest, supplies roughly 40 percent of the capital's fuel market. It has been struck repeatedly since June 2026, including two major attacks within days of each other that damaged its primary crude processing units. Some analysts project the facility may not be fully restored until 2027.

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In a post on X (formally twitter), President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote, "Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night. One of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine. The systems used included FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican... Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions. Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security... Glory to Ukraine!"

The escalating barrage unfolded on the third and final day of voting in Russia's first wartime parliamentary election — a tightly controlled process virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin's policies.

Balloting was also held in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, as well as four other Ukrainian regions that Russian troops illegally annexed following the 2022 full-scale invasion, despite exercising incomplete control over them. Kyiv and its Western allies have repeatedly denounced the vote on Ukrainian soil as illegal and void.

Sobyanin framed the massive air strike as a deliberate attempt to derail the voting process. "The enemy failed in this regard," he said on Sunday, as reported by AP.

Recently, the US State Department approved a potential $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine for air defense development upgrades and related equipment and services, the department said in a congressional notification late on Friday.