Blazes have been reported in the Russian capital and more than a dozen people wounded in the surrounding region, in one of Kiev’s largest aerial attacks
Published 18 Jun, 2026 06:06
| Updated 18 Jun, 2026 10:41
Firefighters extinguishing a car, which caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow Region. © Telegram / Andrey Vorobyev
At least 17 people have been wounded after the Ukrainian military launched one of its largest drone raids against Moscow, Russian officials have said.
Air defenses shot down at least 194 UAVs on the approach to the Russian capital overnight, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote in a Telegram post on Thursday morning.
Some drones made it through and caused blazes, with witnesses reporting large plumes of thick black smoke in several areas in and outside the city.
Several drones reached the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeastern Kapotnya district of the city, Sobyanin said. Firefighters have been deployed to the site.
Debris from a downed UAV delivered minor damage to a building at the Sadovod shopping center in southeastern Moscow, according to the mayor.
All four of Moscow’s international airports were forced to halt flights during the raid, Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsia, said.
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In Moscow Region, a drone struck an apartment block in the city of Zhukovsky, Governor Andrey Vorobyev said on Telegram. There were no injuries and residents have been evacuated from the building, he said.
A woman was lightly wounded after debris from a UAV fell on the roof of her home near the city of Eletrostal, around 58 km east of the capital, according to the governor.
A car also caught fire the city after being struck by drone debris, he added.
The roof of the Belaya Dacha mall on the Moscow Ring Road, east of the capital, caught fire as a result of a drone attack, Vorobyev said. The mall’s administration announced later that it was temporarily shutting down.
Debris from drones fell in several areas in the nearby city of Lyubertsy, according to the governor.
© Telegram / Andrey Vorobyev
Private homes were also damaged outside the city of Chekhov, around 50 km south of Moscow, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said more than 550 Ukrainian UAVs had been shot down across the country since Wednesday evening. The interceptions took place in Moscow, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Orel, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Rostov, and Ryazan regions, as well as in Crimea and over the Sea of Azov, it said.
One person was killed and two others wounded in a drone attack on the town of Gukovo in Rostov Region, according to Governor Yury Slusar.
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The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Thursday that Russian forces carried out another strike overnight against Ukraine’s military-linked energy infrastructure in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev.
A fuel depot outside Kiev and an oil refinery in Poltava Region were hit with missiles and drones, it said.
