SRINAGAR: Ukraine launched one of its largest aerial offensives against Russia since the beginning of the war, sending hundreds of drones towards several Russian regions and Moscow overnight, killing at least six people and damaging homes, railway infrastructure and a major warehouse.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed **822 Ukrainian drones** during the overnight attack. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 600 drones had been detected heading towards the capital, with nearly a third of them brought down over the Moscow region.
An 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone struck a private residence in the Moscow region, regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said. The attack also triggered a fire at a warehouse belonging to online retailer Wildberries in Podolsk.
In the southwestern Rostov region, five people were killed in a separate Ukrainian drone attack, Governor Yury Slyusar said. More than 150 drones were reportedly involved in the assault, which damaged residential buildings and a railway station and sparked a forest fire.
The latest attacks come as Kyiv has intensified its long-range strikes inside Russia, increasingly targeting military-industrial facilities, energy infrastructure and logistics centres. Large-scale attacks on Russian territory have become more frequent in recent months, bringing the impact of the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old conflict closer to the country’s civilian population.
### Russian strikes kill five in Ukraine
Russia, meanwhile, carried out fresh missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, killing at least five people, Ukrainian officials said.
A Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih killed two people and injured 14 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Another person was killed in the northeastern city of Sumy.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a man and a woman were killed after their home was struck by a Russian attack, according to regional military administration chief Ivan Fedorov.
Several strikes also triggered fires in Kyiv, where six people were wounded.
Zelenskyy accused Russia of continuing to target civilian infrastructure with ballistic missiles, saying air raid alerts remained active across several parts of Ukraine as another wave of drones was launched.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had targeted a metallurgical plant in Kryvyi Rih along with several military-industrial facilities in Kyiv. It said one of the targets was a facility involved in manufacturing Ukraine’s domestically developed Flamingo missiles.
The missiles have increasingly featured in Ukraine’s long-range campaign against Russian targets. Zelenskyy said Saturday that Kyiv had used the weapons to strike a Russian rocket research and production centre in Samara, around 900 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
### NATO fighter shoots down drone over Romania
Meanwhile, a Spanish F-18 fighter jet deployed for NATO air-policing duties shot down a drone after it entered Romanian airspace, Romania’s Defence Ministry said.
Romanian surveillance systems detected the drone at around 4:44 am, approximately 24 kilometres north of the eastern city of Galati, close to the border with Moldova.
The Spanish fighter established radar contact with the drone after receiving authorisation to engage and shot it down at around 5:01 am, the ministry said. Romanian authorities did not immediately identify where the drone had originated.
The incident comes amid repeated incursions and drone incidents near Romania’s border with Ukraine as Russia continues its attacks on Ukrainian territory.
Romania has reported dozens of such incidents since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with some drones crashing and exploding on Romanian territory.
Acting Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said the Spanish deployment had been strengthened at the request of Romania and NATO following earlier drone incidents. She said it marked Spain’s fourth such deployment to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.
The latest escalation underscores the growing risk of the war spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders as both Moscow and Kyiv expand their use of long-range drones and missiles.
