Overview
- Moscow officials reported the large-scale drone attack on Thursday and said security forces intercepted most of about 190–200 incoming unmanned aircraft.
- Multiple drones reached a major refinery in the city’s southeast, sparking a large fire and sending thick black smoke into the sky captured in social media footage.
- State media and city authorities reported at least 17 people were injured and a nearby shopping centre sustained damage during the incident.
- Russian officials and the state news agency described the operation as the biggest such attack in two years, but independent verification of numbers and damage is limited.
- The strike comes as both sides have increased use of long-range and swarm drone tactics that put cities and critical infrastructure at greater risk and could widen the pattern of cross-border reprisals.