Ukraine launched what is being described as its largest attack on Moscow in over a year, with more than 500 drones targeting the Russian capital and surrounding regions overnight. At least three people were killed near Moscow, according to local and military officials. The assault followed a massive wave of Russian strikes earlier in the week that targeted Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens.
Overnight into Sunday, May 17, a woman was killed after a drone struck a private home in Khimki, a town northwest of the capital. Authorities reported that another individual was trapped under the rubble. To the northeast in Mytishchi, two men lost their lives when drone debris collapsed onto a house under construction. A total of 12 people were injured across Moscow, including construction workers at an oil refinery.
India's Embassy in Russia confirmed that an Indian citizen was killed and three others were injured during the strikes. In the western town of Istra, four people sustained injuries when drones damaged several residential blocks, while fallen debris caused a house in the village of Subbotino to catch fire. Drone fragments also landed on the grounds of Sheremetyevo Airport, Russia's busiest air hub, though the facility reported no injuries or operational damage.
Ukraine targets strategic facilities
Ukraine's Security Service stated that its forces targeted key strategic facilities in the Moscow region. The operations successfully struck two oil pumping facilities, an oil refinery, and the 'Angstrom' plant, which supplies essential semiconductors to Russia's military-industrial complex. The Russian Defense Ministry stated it intercepted 556 Ukrainian drones overnight, with air defenses reportedly shooting down more than 120 drones heading directly for Moscow and its surrounding environs.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 287 drones overnight, injuring at least nine people in the Dnipropetrovsk region and Zaporizhzhia district. Ukrainian forces successfully shot down all but eight of those incoming drones across seven locations.
Direct message to Moscow's elite
As the strikes unfolded on Sunday morning, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned System Forces posted a direct message on his official Telegram account to the residents of Patriarchy, one of Moscow's elite residential districts. 'The one-way ticket to a peaceful life in Patriarchy and the surrounding areas has been canceled,' he wrote.
The attack, which involved nearly 600 drones, is the biggest single attack on Russia since the start of the war. Targets in Moscow and a patrol ship in the Caspian Sea were hit, with at least four people killed, including an Indian worker.
