KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine launched one of its largest drone assaults on Russia since Moscow began its full-scale invasion more than four years ago, sending nearly 800 drones across the border just two days after carrying out a similar wave of attacks, officials said Tuesday.
At the same time, Russian forces struck a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region with a missile, killing at least 10 people and injuring eight others as homes were destroyed in the attack, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.
The two countries are increasingly relying on long-range aerial attacks while combat along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front in eastern and southern Ukraine remains constrained by the widespread use of drones and ground robots that make troop movements highly dangerous, analysts say.
Russia’s Putin resists pressure for peace talks
Over the past year, Ukraine has developed and fielded its own long-range drones capable of reaching targets deep inside Russia. The rapid progress of its drone program has drawn attention from governments and defense companies around the world.
Ukrainian officials say the strikes are intended to bring the impact of the war closer to the Russian public and increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter serious peace negotiations. Putin has shown no indication that he plans to halt the invasion.
“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Russia’s air defenses intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple Russian regions, as well as over annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said. According to an Associated Press tally, it was the second-largest drone attack recorded since January 2025.
More than 600 Ukrainian drones were headed toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. He did not provide additional details.
Officials reported no deaths or major damage.
In the Moscow region that surrounds but doesn’t include the Russian capital, three people were injured, Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.
The overnight attack started a fire at a warehouse of Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, in an industrial zone. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the company’s depots, which it says help supply the Russian military.
Wildberries said its facility sustained “insignificant damage.”
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy accuses Russia of a ‘brutal attack’ on civilians
A Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed 10 civilians, according to preliminary information, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration.
Another 17 people were wounded, he said. Zelenskyy called it “a brutal attack” that damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, according to Syniehubov.
“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
Also, three people were killed and three others were wounded over the past day in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy region, including drone strikes and an explosive device blast, Ukraine’s National Police said.
