The attack is “the most important since the start of the invasion”, maintains kyiv. Russia indicated this Sunday, May 17, that it had been targeted by one of the most massive Ukrainian attacks in four years of offensive against its neighbor, mobilizing around 600 drones during the night. Russian authorities also announced the death of three people in the Moscow region and one in the Belgorod region. Ukraine, for its part, claims to have intercepted 279 Russian drones and decoys out of a total of 287 launched during the night.
Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. local time, “anti-aircraft defense units intercepted and destroyed 556 Ukrainian drones” over 14 Russian regions as well as annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, the ministry said of Defense on Russian messaging Max.
“Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his social networks. The attack took place three days after Russian bombings which left around twenty dead in kyiv and to which the Ukrainian authorities had promised to respond.
Several targeted cities
The Ukrainian president’s message was accompanied by a video showing what appears to be a refinery on fire, without AFP being able to verify its authenticity. According to kyiv, this Ukrainian attack on the Russian capital is the most “important since the start of the invasion.”
Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified. This time, Ukrainian long-range sanctions reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war. Ukrainian drone and… pic.twitter.com/BVFJ1BJQ1i
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир ЗеленÑький (@ZelenskyyUa) May 17, 2026
The Russian news agency Tass, quoting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, explains that around a hundred of these drones targeted the region of the Russian capital. According to this source, at least two people were killed in the town of Mytishchi. One of the victims was an Indian citizen working in Russia, the Indian embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
In Moscow itself, more than 80 drones were intercepted and a strike left 12 injured, “mainly workers” on a construction site near a refinery, according to the mayor. “The refinery’s production was not disrupted. Three residential buildings were damaged,” said Sergueï Sobianine. A third person was killed in a drone strike on the town of Khimki, northwest of Moscow, adds Tass.
In the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, a man was killed overnight in the Chebekino district, during a Ukrainian drone attack on a truck, according to regional authorities.
Resumption of strikes this week
On Telegram and Max this Sunday morning, Sergueï Sobyanine multiplied the messages to announce that drones had been destroyed by the services of the Ministry of Defense. “Emergency services are working at the scene where the debris fell,” he wrote.
The Russian authorities have not specified the origin of these strikes. However, Ukraine, in response to the daily bombings of the Russian army for more than four years, regularly strikes targets in Russia, ensuring that it is targeting military but also energy sites in order to reduce the possibility for Moscow to finance its offensive.
If the capital region is regularly the subject of drone attacks, Moscow itself, located more than 400 km from the Ukrainian border, is more rarely targeted.
Ukraine and Russia resumed their respective strikes on the night of Monday to Tuesday, after the expiration of a three-day truce negotiated under the aegis of the United States on the occasion of commemorations in Russia of the end of the Second World War.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered that Ukraine had the right to strike oil and military sites in Russia, in response to the deadly attack which left at least 24 dead the day before in kyiv.
