At least two people were killed in Russia’s Moscow region on Tuesday as Ukrainian forces launched one of their biggest drone attacks on Russia of the year.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces intercepted 868 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions. “Last night, drones were shot down over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, Tula and Moscow regions, as well as Crimea and the Sea of Azov,” the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Andrey Vorobyov, governor of Russia’s Moscow Oblast, the region that surrounds the capital city, wrote on Telegram that 165 drones were shot down over 16 municipalities in the region. He said that two people were killed — a 71-year-old man and a 20-year-old man — and nine were injured.
“Forty-seven private homes were damaged in seven municipalities: Volokolamsk, Stupino, Dmitrov, Naro-Fominsk, Serpukhov, Domodedovo, and Istra,” Vorobyov wrote.
An oil storage tank was also reportedly hit in the Moscow region as Ukraine has continued attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, operations that are supported by US intelligence despite President Trump’s calls for an end to such attacks.
Ukraine’s ramped-up drone attacks inside Russia have resulted in an escalation of Russian strikes on Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he was preparing for a massive Russian attack and called for more military aid from the US and Europe.
“We’ve got updated intel on Russia’s preparations for a massive strike. I ask you, please, to take care of yourselves and respond to missile threat alerts,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“Ukrainian services and our Air Force are ready to respond – as much as our defenses allow. And a lot depends on our partners – every country in the world that has the defensive capabilities we need and can provide them to us. It’s very important that there be the political will to do this – particularly in the United States and in Europe,” he added.
