Ukraine launches one of its largest aerial attacks of its war with Russia

One of the largest Ukrainian aerial attacks of the war

Ukraine launched one of its largest aerial attacks of its war with Russia, sending hundreds of drones in a strike that killed at least six people, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones targeting military industries and energy facilities.

The scale of the assault was underscored by Russia's Ministry of Defence, which said it destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones on Saturday night and early Sunday morning (Russian time). At least 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with one-third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself.

The attacks brought the war closer to Russian civilians. An 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a private home in the Moscow region, Governor Andrey Vorobyov said. He also confirmed a Ukrainian attack had sparked a blaze at a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Podolsk.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted giant Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars' worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant, which Kyiv says also supplies the Russian military. Those attacks have brought the war home to the Russian public nearly four and a half years into Moscow's full-scale invasion.

In Russia's south-western Rostov region, a drone attack targeted three towns, killing five people, Governor Yury Slyusar said. The attack by more than 150 drones damaged several homes and a train station and sparked a forest fire.

Russian strikes hit Ukrainian cities

While Ukraine pressed its air campaign, it also came under Russian attack. A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed two people and wounded 14 others, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also said one more person was killed in the city of Sumy.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine's largest steel producer, confirmed that one of its sites was hit in a missile attack and that operations were partially suspended. A man and a woman died when their home was hit by a Russian strike in Ukraine's southern city of Zaporizhzhia, said Ivan Fedorov, the head of the local military administration.

Russian attacks sparked fires throughout the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounding six people. A blaze took hold at one of Kyiv's largest book markets, tearing through kiosks close to the Pochaina metro station.

Zelensky condemned the strikes, saying: "Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure."

Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that it had targeted a metallurgical plant in Kryvyi Rih and several military-industrial sites in Kyiv, including a manufacturing facility for Ukraine's Flamingo missiles. Zelensky had announced on Saturday that Ukraine used those missiles to attack a rocket research and production centre in Samara, about 900 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Drone incident over Romania

The confrontation also spilled over into NATO airspace. Romania's Ministry of National Defence said on Sunday that a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace. The drone's entry was detected by surveillance systems at 4.44am local time, about 24 kilometres north of Galati, and the F-18 shot it down at 5.01am.

Drone debris was reported in the Black Sea at 10am on Sunday, about 1.5 kilometres from Constanta, and another drone fragment was found near Constanta. Romanian officials did not specify the drone's origin. Moldova's Ministry of Defence said its army surveillance systems detected a Geran-type Shahed drone in Moldovan airspace, which entered from Ukraine and exited toward Romania.

Weeks earlier, Romanian pilots shot down three drones over three days as Russia intensified attacks against Ukraine near the border. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Romania has reported dozens of drone incidents, including some that have crashed and exploded on its territory.

Romania's acting foreign minister Oana Toiu said in a post on X that the Spanish deployment in Romania was scaled up at the request of Romania and NATO to bolster the eastern flank following prior drone incidents, and that it was Spain's fourth such deployment.