Zelensky Escalates: 1,600 Drones Shake Moscow, Russia
Approximately 1,600 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles/drones) were reported to have attacked Moscow on Sunday, occurring amidst the ongoing parliamentary elections in Russia.
However, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated that 4lar 450 UAVs were intercepted as they approached the capital. Despite the interceptions, two civilians were killed and several others, including two children, were injured.
“This unprecedented attack was clearly planned to disrupt the electoral process. The enemy failed,” Sobyanin said, as reported by RT on Monday.
According to the same source, several drones reached the Moscow oil refinery area, where one unspecified facility sustained damage. One drone also struck a residential building; however, Sobyanin emphasised that there were no fatalities within the capital itself.
Earlier on the same day, the Governor of the Moscow Region, Andrey Vorobyov, reported damage in the Ramenskoye District, southeast of Moscow. A 44-year-old woman was killed and five others, including two children, were injured when a drone struck an apartment building in the village of Sofyino.
In the nearby town of Ramenskoye, approximately 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-storey apartment block after falling drone debris triggered a fire on the roof. It was also reported that 20 vehicles sustained damage.
In the Orekhovo-Zuyevo District, where a private house was destroyed and burned during the attack, one person was reported dead. The victim was an elderly man inside the building, according to the governor.
In other parts of the Moscow region, a warehouse complex caught fire in Sofyino, and a drone struck an apartment building in Kotelniki, causing fires across units on three different floors. Authorities are still confirming if there were any injuries.
Residential homes also sustained damage in Kolomna and Yegoryevsk, while fires broke out in apartment buildings in the Leninsky, Lyubertsy, and Lytkarino districts. A residential building and an industrial facility were damaged in Istra, though no fatalities were reported there.
This massive attack hit Moscow and its surrounding areas just hours before polling stations opened for the final day of Russia’s three-day parliamentary elections. Despite the strikes, all 1,443 polling stations in Moscow opened on time.
Russia has accused Ukraine of undermining diplomatic efforts while openly calling for the resumption of negotiations. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the Ukrainian leadership “speaks of peace” but makes every effort to obstruct peace and negotiations.
Earlier this month, Putin ordered large-scale retaliatory strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in response to attacks on Russian territory. Moscow has condemned the attacks on civilians as acts of terrorism, asserting that Russian forces only target military and defence-related facilities.