Overview
- Ukraine launched a massive long‑range drone salvo on Tuesday night that sent roughly 600–800 drones toward Moscow and multiple Russian regions, with official tallies differing between outlets and authorities.
- Russian defence bodies reported shooting down hundreds of the drones—official counts range from about 180 intercepted over the Moscow region to a nationwide claim of 453—while some drones struck targets and caused fires at a Wildberries logistics hub and an oil refinery in Ufa.
- Reporting by multiple outlets said British‑manufactured long‑range strike drones have been used by Ukrainian forces, a claim that prompted a formal warning from the Russian embassy in London and sharp diplomatic pushback from Moscow.
- Associated Press and other journalists observed Ukraine’s 413th “Raid” Unmanned Systems Regiment preparing and launching explosive drones, reflecting Kyiv’s tactic of using domestically built and Western‑supplied systems to hit military, industrial and logistics sites deep inside Russia.
- Analysts warn the campaign forces Russia to spread scarce air‑defence resources, strains interceptor stocks, disrupts civilian services such as airport operations, and raises the risk of broader diplomatic escalation over Western weapons supplies.