Ukrainian Drone Barrage Hits Moscow Region, Kills Three as Russia Downs Hundreds

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed more than 550 Ukrainian drones overnight in one of the largest cross-border aerial attacks since the start of the war, Russian authorities said Sunday, as strikes in the Moscow region killed at least three people and wounded several others.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defense systems shot down 556 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones across more than a dozen regions overnight.

“Air defense duty assets intercepted and destroyed 556 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry said in a statement posted on social media.

Authorities in the Moscow region said the Ukrainian attacks caused civilian casualties and infrastructure damage as air defenses worked for hours to repel the barrage.

“A woman was killed as a result of a UAV hitting a private house. One more person is trapped under rubble,” Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on Telegram, adding that two men were also killed in the attacks.

Vorobyov said four others were wounded and that infrastructure facilities had been targeted during the assault.

“Since 3 o’clock in the morning, air defense forces have been repelling a large-scale UAV attack on the capital region,” he wrote.

Inside the Russian capital, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defense systems intercepted at least 74 drones overnight. Twelve people were reported wounded in Moscow.

“Minor damage has been recorded at the sites where debris fell,” Sobyanin said on Telegram, adding that a total of 120 drones had been intercepted over the previous 24 hours.

Although the broader Moscow region has frequently faced drone attacks during the conflict, direct strikes targeting the city of Moscow itself remain comparatively rare.

The large-scale assault came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed further retaliatory strikes following a deadly Russian attack on Kyiv that killed 24 people on Thursday.

Russia and Ukraine have intensified cross-border attacks in recent days following the expiration of a three-day truce earlier this week and a recent prisoner exchange between the two sides.

Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to strike targets inside Russia, saying the attacks are aimed at military and energy infrastructure in response to sustained Russian bombardments across Ukrainian territory over more than four years of war.

The escalation comes as Russia continues to deepen its strategic partnership with China amid mounting tensions with the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China next week for a two-day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Kremlin announced on Saturday, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his own state visit to Beijing.

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin’s visit is scheduled for May 19-20 and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship. The talks are expected to focus on bilateral ties, economic cooperation, and what Moscow described as “key international and regional issues.”

The announcement came less than 24 hours after Trump completed meetings with Xi in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed trade relations and the ongoing conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.

Relations between Moscow and Beijing have strengthened significantly in recent years, particularly after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in Ukraine in 2022, triggering sweeping Western sanctions and increasing Moscow’s economic reliance on China.

During Putin’s previous visit to China in September 2025, Xi described the Russian leader as an “old friend,” while Putin referred to Xi as a “dear friend,” underscoring the increasingly close partnership between the two powers.