Ukraine strikes Moscow with the largest drone attack ever. Zelensky: I spoke to Trump; we’ll meet in New York
Kiev’s attack on Moscow comes whilst polling stations are open. A hail of fire is raining down on the city, which is being targeted by drones as well as ‘cruise and ballistic missiles’, explains Zelensky. Oil facilities and a logistics centre have been hit; two people have been killed.
Ukraine has struck Moscow with what local authorities have described as the largest drone attack ever launched against the capital, setting fire to a major oil refinery and killing at least two people, as the Russian parliamentary elections, rigged from the outset, entered their final day. For its part, the Defence Ministry in Moscow stated that Russian forces would “step up attacks on military targets in Kyiv” in response to the massive air raids. The ministry went on to state that, over the past 24 hours, Russian air defences had shot down 1,951 drones and eight long-range cruise missiles over Russian territory. The ministry emphasised that “all Flamingo missiles launched by the Kyiv regime were destroyed by air defence systems as they approached civilian targets in the Moscow region”.
The Russian authorities have reported that Moscow and the surrounding region were targeted by hundreds of drones in the early hours of the day, causing at least three deaths and damage to a major oil refinery. The governor of the region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobiov, reported that 249 drones were shot down, causing damage in several residential areas.
Zelensky: I spoke to Trump; we’ll meet in New York
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on X that he had “just spoken with President Trump. It was an important conversation, and we discussed many issues. We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change many things. There is a favourable diplomatic moment.” Zelensky then stated that he had “thanked the President for the visit by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv. We examined the key details in depth, and they saw the situation in Ukraine for themselves. The path to peace is our top priority.”
The attacks
As a result of the attacks, two people died in total: a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man. In a third affected area, 400 people were evacuated due to a fire caused by a drone crashing into a building. In a series of messages posted on Telegram overnight, Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, reported that at least 186 drones had been shot down by Russian air defences. He did not specify the origin of the attacks. ‘A facility within the Moscow oil refinery complex has been damaged,’ added Sobyanin, noting that no casualties were immediately reported. This major refinery has already been targeted by Ukrainian attacks in recent months.
The Mayor of Moscow has accused Ukraine of launching, in the last few hours, an “unprecedented” attack involving over 1,600 drones heading towards Russia, with the aim – according to him – of “disrupting” the parliamentary elections. According to Sergei Sobyanin, since yesterday Russian air defences have shot down more than 1,600 drones, of which “450 were heading towards Moscow”. “This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” he stated on Telegram, as Russians vote on Sunday for the third and final day of the first parliamentary elections since the start of Russia’s large-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
