Ukraine hits Moscow with large drone attack

What happened

Ukraine sent waves of drones at the Moscow region and other areas of Russia early Tuesday, in its "biggest drone attack so far," Reuters said. Russia said it shot down 144 drones, including at least 20 in the Moscow region. A 46-year-old woman was reported killed when a drone struck an apartment building, marking the "first death in the Moscow region from a Ukrainian drone attack since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine," The Washington Post said.

Who said what

Ukraine's strike was the "latest in a series of increasingly large-scale attacks that have involved dozens of drones hitting military air bases, oil refineries and ammunition stores," as "Kyiv has been taking the war deep inside Moscow's territory," The Wall Street Journal said. Russia has also "recently ramped up its use of nighttime bombardments that often strike civilians," killing thousands over the course of its invasion and destroying much of Ukraine's power and water infrastructure.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine's "night strikes on residential areas cannot be associated with military operations." Russian President Vladimir Putin has "sought to insulate Moscow from the grinding rigors of the war," Reuters said, and vowed a response to what he called "terrorism."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What next?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visits Ukraine this week along with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, said Iran has sent Russia short-range ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine, sparking U.S. and European sanctions.