Ukraine launched what appears to be its largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack against Russia to date over the night of Saturday (August 16) to early Sunday, with Russian military claiming to have shot down 822 drones, resulting in at least 7 fatalities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on Sunday that Russian forces had shot down 822 Ukrainian UAVs overnight. The targets of these drone attacks included 16 Russian regions, Crimea, the Azov Sea, and the Black Sea.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin revealed on the social media platform Telegram that approximately 600 drones were launched towards the Russian capital, with 201 of them being shot down.
Sobyanin did not specify the extent of the damage or casualties from the attacks but mentioned that emergency response personnel had been deployed to the scenes.
The Governor of Moscow Oblast, Andrei Vorobyov, reported on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone had struck a private residence in his region, resulting in the death of an 83-year-old man. He also confirmed that the Ukrainian attack had caused a major fire at a warehouse of the Russian online retail giant Wildberries in Podolsk.
Yury Slyusar, the Governor of Rostov Oblast in southwest Russia, stated that three towns in his region were targeted by over 150 drones, causing 5 fatalities. The attacks damaged multiple residential buildings and a train station in the region, igniting a forest fire.
Local officials in Belgorod reported that a bus had been attacked by a drone, resulting in one fatality.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has been targeting Wildberries with attacks, accusing the retail giant of handling military supplies for the Russian military. Ukraine sees these attacks as part of its efforts to disrupt Russia’s economic infrastructure, which is crucial for Moscow’s military operations.
The aerial warfare between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate. With Ukraine’s advancing UAV technology, Ukrainian forces are increasingly launching large-scale drone attacks deep into Russian territory, targeting warehouses, industrial facilities, refineries, and more.
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, this wave of attacks marks the largest UAV assault launched by Ukraine since the beginning of the year, with many targets being in the Moscow area where numerous elite Russians reside.
Meanwhile, Russia continued to launch long-range attacks against Ukraine throughout Saturday night. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces fired missiles and 106 drones in the latest round of attacks, with 3 missiles and 85 drones being shot down or intercepted.
Ukrainian authorities stated that Russia’s attacks have impacted at least 13 locations in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Telegram that at least 6 people were injured in the attacks in and around the capital city of Kyiv.
Zelensky also mentioned that two individuals died in his hometown of Kryvyi Rih during the attacks, with another fatality in the northeastern city of Sumy.
Local officials in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, reported two deaths in the region due to Russia’s recent wave of attacks.