Moscow was rattled overnight by a wave of explosions as Russia claimed to have thwarted one of the largest Ukrainian drone offensives in recent months. The Russian Defense Ministry announced early Monday that its air defenses had intercepted and destroyed 193 Ukrainian drones during the night, while regional authorities reported one death linked to the attacks.
In a statement posted to Telegram, the ministry said that 40 drones were brought down over the wider Moscow region, including 34 that were headed directly for the city. It added that 47 drones were intercepted over Bryansk near the Ukrainian border, 42 over Kaluga, and 32 over Tula.
Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said one of the drones struck a minibus in the village of Pogar, killing the driver and wounding five passengers.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that air defense systems neutralized 36 drones approaching the capital between the evening of October 26 and the early hours of October 27. He noted that emergency crews were dispatched to the locations where debris had fallen, but there were no reports of injuries or property damage within the city. Residents in several suburban districts, including Domodedovo, Podolsk, Dubna, and Troitsk, reported hearing loud detonations, according to the Telegram channels ASTRA and Mash.
Air traffic was briefly disrupted at Zhukovsky and Domodedovo airports, where five flights were canceled and six delayed before operations resumed roughly two hours later. A fire broke out at an oil storage facility in Serpukhov, south of the capital, but was swiftly extinguished. Another blaze was reported in a wooded area of Kommunarka inside Moscow’s boundaries, though officials did not confirm whether the incidents were linked to the drone strikes.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukrainian energy and infrastructure sites with drones and missiles. Ukraine, in turn, has escalated its use of long-range drones to strike Russian oil depots and industrial targets deep inside Russian territory.
The overnight assault marked the second major drone attack on Moscow this month. In late September, Russian air defenses intercepted 41 drones over two days, while the largest recorded assault came in May, when 109 drones were destroyed over a two-and-a-half-day period, leading to widespread flight disruptions and temporary internet outages across central Russia.
