Ukraine launches large-scale drone attack on Russia, killing at least six; Russian strikes kill five in Ukraine
Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia on Sunday in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war, killing at least six people. Russia's Ministry of Defense said it destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight, with roughly 600 detected heading toward Moscow. Separately, Russian strikes killed at least five people and wounded others across multiple Ukrainian cities.
Two sources · Thin corroboration
Ukraine conducted a large-scale overnight drone attack against Russia on Sunday, August 16, with Russia's Ministry of Defense reporting it destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said approximately 600 drones were detected heading toward the capital, with a third destroyed over the Moscow region itself.
At least six people were killed on the Russian side. An 83-year-old man died after a drone struck a private home in the Moscow region, according to local Gov. Andrey Vorobyov. In Russia's southwestern Rostov region, Gov. Yury Slyusar said a separate attack involving more than 150 drones struck three towns, killing five people, damaging homes and a railway station, and sparking a forest fire. A Ukrainian drone also ignited a blaze at a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Podolsk, with images from Russian media showing columns of black smoke.
On the Ukrainian side, a Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih killed two people and wounded 14 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. One additional person was killed in the city of Sumy. The Associated Press also reported that a man and a woman were killed when their home was struck by a Russian attack in the Zaporizhzhia region — a detail not mentioned in NPR's coverage. Separate Russian attacks on Kyiv sparked fires throughout the capital and injured six people.