MOSCOW, Aug 16 – Ukraine carried out one of its largest aerial assaults against Russia since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, sending hundreds of drones toward targets across the country and killing at least six people, Russian officials said Sunday. The attacks reached areas near Moscow as well as the southwestern Rostov region, damaging homes, a railway station and other facilities, while a fire was reported at a major Wildberries warehouse in the Moscow-region city of Podolsk.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones during the overnight barrage. The scale of the attack was particularly evident around the Russian capital, where Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 600 drones had been detected heading toward the city. Roughly one-third of those drones were destroyed over the Moscow region, according to Sobyanin.
The latest strikes underline how Ukraine has expanded its ability to conduct long-range attacks deep inside Russian territory. Kyiv has increasingly relied on drones and domestically produced missiles to hit military-related facilities, energy infrastructure and other targets that it says are connected to Russia’s war effort. The attacks have also brought the conflict closer to civilians living far from the front line.
In the Moscow region, an 83-year-old man was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck a private residence, Gov. Andrey Vorobyov said. Vorobyov also reported that another attack caused a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in Podolsk. The warehouse is part of the extensive logistics network of Russia’s largest online retail company, making such attacks especially visible to ordinary Russians.
The southwestern Rostov region also came under heavy attack. Regional Gov. Yury Slyusar said more than 150 drones targeted three towns, killing five people. Several houses were damaged, a railway station was hit and a forest fire broke out following the strikes, according to the governor.
The reported attacks reflect a broader change in the character of the war. For much of the conflict, Russian strikes have devastated Ukrainian cities and infrastructure while fighting remained concentrated along the front. Ukraine’s growing long-range capabilities have increasingly allowed Kyiv to carry the war into Russian territory, forcing authorities in Moscow and other regions to strengthen air defenses and prepare residents for repeated drone attacks.
Russian strikes kill 5 in Ukraine
While Ukraine’s drones were striking targets across Russia, Russian forces launched another series of attacks against Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih killed two people and wounded 14 others. He also reported the death of another person in the northeastern city of Sumy.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a man and a woman were killed after their home was struck, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional military administration. The attacks added to the civilian toll as both sides continued to use long-range weapons far beyond the immediate battlefield.
Kyiv was also hit. Several attacks caused fires in the Ukrainian capital and left six people wounded, according to Ukrainian authorities. Zelenskyy said Russian forces had continued launching drones throughout the day and accused Moscow of targeting civilian infrastructure with ballistic missiles.
“Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces had struck a metallurgical plant in Kryvyi Rih and several military-industrial facilities in Kyiv. Among the sites it identified was a manufacturing facility associated with Ukraine’s Flamingo missiles.
Ukraine has increasingly highlighted the role of its own long-range weapons as it seeks to strike Russian military and industrial facilities. Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian forces had used Flamingo missiles to attack a rocket research and production center in Samara, a city roughly 900 kilometers (560 miles) from Ukraine’s border.
The growing reach of Ukrainian weapons presents a significant challenge for Russian authorities. Targets hundreds of kilometers from the front are now within range of Ukrainian systems, while Moscow continues to rely on its own missile and drone campaign against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
The latest escalation also affected neighboring Romania, a NATO member bordering Ukraine. Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace early Sunday.
Romanian surveillance systems detected the drone at 4:44 a.m., about 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) north of the eastern Romanian city of Galati, close to the border with Moldova. The ministry said the Spanish F-18 made radar contact with the aircraft and received authorization to engage it. The drone was subsequently shot down at 5:01 a.m.
Romanian officials did not immediately identify where the drone had originated. The incident nevertheless highlights the growing risks posed by the war beyond Ukraine’s borders, particularly as Russian and Ukrainian drone operations become larger and more frequent.
Romania has reported numerous drone incidents since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Some drones have crashed and exploded on Romanian territory, prompting concerns among NATO members about the possibility of the conflict spilling into allied airspace.
Acting Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said on X that Spain’s air-policing deployment had been expanded at the request of Romania and NATO to strengthen security along the alliance’s eastern flank following earlier drone incidents. She said the latest deployment represented Spain’s fourth such mission in Romania.
The incident came only weeks after Romanian F-16 pilots shot down three drones over a three-day period as Russian attacks intensified near the country’s border with Ukraine.
The simultaneous attacks in Russia, Ukraine and the surrounding region demonstrate how the war continues to expand in geographical reach. With Ukraine increasing its use of long-range drones and missiles, and Russia maintaining its own campaign against Ukrainian cities, civilians on both sides remain exposed to a conflict that is increasingly being fought far from the front lines.