Ukraine, overnight, launched one of its largest attacks of the entire war, as hundreds of drones targeted the Russian capital of Moscow.
According to DW.com, Ukraine launched a “sustained overnight assault,” which Russia says killed at least six people. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 201 of the 600 drones launched at Moscow were destroyed. The Russian regional governor, meanwhile, called it “one of the most massive drone attacks (against Moscow Oblast) in recent memory,” while the BBC called it the largest attack by Ukraine in 2026.
Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
A later comment from Russia’s Ministry of Defense stated that they had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight, with a third of those over the Moscow region itself, per CBS News.
DW.com reported that Russia has claimed that five people were killed in the city of Rostov, and one more in the Moscow region. Gov. Andrey Vorobyov, per CBS, said that an 83-year-old man was killed when his private home was struck by a drone.
The Kyiv Independent reported that the attack was targeted at cities throughout the Moscow Oblast, and that one of the targets was a warehouse belonging to the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries. The warehouse was in the city of Koledino, near Moscow, and Exilenova soon posted video of the attack’s aftermath to Telegram. Another “production and logistics complex” was also hit.
The Guardian, citing Russian news agency RIA Novosti, called the number of drones in the attack “the largest daily total claimed by the defense ministry, exceeding a record that had been set only the day before, though the figure is probably exaggerated and could not be verified.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirmed the Wildberries attack on what it called the company’s largest facility and said, “Ukraine has taken out of operation seven out of the 10 largest Wildberries logistics centers.”
A New Phase of the War
CNN reported that Russia is now “assessing the damage” of the massive new attacks.
This phase of the war, entailing both sides striking each other on a now-nightly basis, shows “no signs of abating,” reporter Sebastian Shukla said from Berlin.
He added that the war at this point is “being fought almost predominantly in the skies,” after the earlier phases of the war were more about grinding it out for swathes of land. However, those ground battles have virtually ground to a halt in some areas.
“Both sides have identified weaknesses in each other,” Shukla added, “and these are the areas where they think they can inflict the most damage.” This includes Ukraine’s drone attacks on Wildberries and oil refineries, while Russia sees weaknesses in Ukraine’s vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks.
Patriot Missile Interceptor Test. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Ukraine is seeking additional missile defense systems from its allies.
As a result of all that, casualties and fatalities in the war, Shukla concluded, are likely to rise in the coming weeks and months.
“There is no incentive for Vladimir Putin to end this war,” the reporter said.
Russia Strikes Ukraine, Too
Also, according to DW.com, Russian attacks on Ukraine killed five people and wounded dozens.
This included an attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, which killed two people, and another on the town of Sumy, near the border.
And two people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region, a man and a woman whose home was struck.
There were also reports of strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which wounded six people.
“Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” the Ukrainian leader said in a social media post.
What’s With the British Drones?
While Ukraine has become renowned for its growing drone industry, Sky News reported this week that Ukraine has also been using British-made drones in many of its strikes on Russia, especially over the last six months.
This includes the Storm Shadow cruise missile, the jet-powered Nyan drone, and another undisclosed drone weapon.
“Most deep-strike missions are conducted using Ukrainian drones, but Ukraine’s armed forces said they have also had significant success with British drones,” the report said.
The targets struck by them include “ oil refineries near Moscow, in Yaroslavl, and Volgograd,” Sky said.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has written thousands of articles on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
