Ukraine launched more than 400 drones in the direction of Moscow in one of its largest recent strikes targeting the Russian capital, Moscow’s mayor said Monday.
The overnight assault followed Russia’s latest barrage on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, where ballistic missiles were used in a punishing exchange of attacks that continues to dim hopes for any near-term deal to end Moscow’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was preparing for “key talks” Monday as he works to contain a growing political storm at home. The tension erupted after last week’s government reshuffle revealed a widening rift between Ukraine’s military establishment and a younger generation of wartime innovators over the country’s strategy against Russia.
Zelensky now faces the task of convincing Ukrainians that removing 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister while continuing to back 60-year-old Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a Soviet-trained commander serving as armed forces chief, will not weaken Ukraine’s battlefield effort.
His decision triggered several days of street demonstrations, with protesters voicing support for Fedorov and opposition to Syrskyi.
Ukraine hits another Russian oil depot
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 400 Ukrainian drones were launched toward the capital between late Sunday and early Monday. According to him, the majority were shot down at a considerable distance from the city, while 85 were intercepted in the Moscow area.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the surrounding Moscow region, said Ukrainian drone strikes injured 10 people. He also reported damage to several apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure sites.
One of the strikes sparked a fire at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park, roughly 30 kilometers, or 18 miles, south of Moscow, said Yevgeniya Khrustaleva, who heads the Domodedovo district in the Moscow region.
The Astra news outlet reported that the assault also caused a fire at an oil depot in Podolsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Moscow but there was no official confirmation of the strike.
Ukrainian forces struck logistics facilities and an oil depot in the Moscow region, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Ukraine’s border, Zelensky said. He also said Ukrainian forces hit two vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil and four dry cargo ships in the Black Sea.
It was not possible to independently verify either side’s claims.
Ukraine’s long-range drone technology has swiftly evolved during the war, posing a problem for Russia, whose huge land mass is hard to fully protect. Kyiv’s forces have aimed especially at Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages and embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In May, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 1,054 Ukrainian drones in a 24-hour period.
Russia uses ballistic missiles more frequently
As Kyiv pleads with foreign partners to supply it with sophisticated interceptors that can counter Russian ballistic missiles, which are much harder to stop than drones or cruise missiles, Moscow’s forces have sought to take advantage of weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses.
Ballistic missiles fly faster than the speed of sound and can reach Kyiv in minutes, giving air defenses little time to react and civilians to reach shelter.
Russia has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles, and on Sunday used them in a bombardment that Ukrainian officials said killed at least six people and wounded dozens.
“Russian forces have launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine thus far in July than Russia reportedly produces each month,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday.
“Russia appears to be dipping into its stockpiles to continue increasing the number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles have a higher success rate than drones and cruise missiles,” it noted.
A Russian strike on Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region injured 13 people, military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. Eleven people were hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl, he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that its forces struck fuel tanks in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa overnight.
Russia fired two missiles and 94 long-range strike drones at the territory of Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force. It said air defenses jammed or intercepted 81 drones, while nine drones and a missile caused damage at nine locations.
