MAY 18, 2026 2:46 PM CET
BY VERONIKA MELKOZEROVAKYIV — Ukraine hit Russia with more than 1,300 drones over the weekend, penetrating Moscow’s heavy air defenses and successfully hitting targets in and around the capital.

While Ukrainian drones have penetrated Moscow's air defenses before, this time they hit a wide range of targets, including industrial plants and an oil refinery. Three people were killed and 12 wounded, Russian authorities said.

“This is significant also because the Moscow region is the most heavily saturated with Russian air defense systems,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Sunday afternoonThe attack happened shortly after Zelenskyy announced strikes in retaliation for Russia's massive two-day attack on Ukraine last week, which killed 24 people and injured 48 in Kyiv alone.

Kyiv claimed successful attacks on the Angstrem factory, which produces radio electronics and microchips for precision weapons, the Moscow oil refinery and oil pumping stations in Solnechnogorsk and Volodarskoye near the capital.

The drone attack also led to more than 50 civilian flights being redirected and more than 30 being delayed, Russia's transport ministry reported.

“It is the largest one-time deep strike by Ukraine so far in this war. Ukraine has attacked Moscow several times before with a limited effect. But this time, the psychological impact is powerful,” said Taras Chmut, a Ukrainian military analyst who also serves as the ministry of defense representative on the state defense procurement agency.

Ukraine used long-range drones, including the RS-1 Bars, FP-1 Firepoint and the newly developed Bars-SM Gladiator in the strikes, the Ukrainian Army General Staff said in a statement. Each of the drones can carry from 50 kilograms to 113 kilograms of explosives.

"Ukraine’s strike series proved that Russia is unable to effectively defend the Russian capital, a weakness that generated significant frustration in the Russian ultranationalist information space," the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Sunday.