The Kremlin said on Thursday that it encountered at least 485 enemy drones across the country over the last three days, including 63 attempted attacks in the Moscow region.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, the defense ministry said the attacks were part of a “massive raid” by Ukraine across 13 Russian oblasts and the occupied region of Crimea.
“Air defense systems shot down 485 aircraft-type uncrewed aerial vehicles,” the statement said.
Business Insider could not independently verify these figures, and as of press time, Kyiv has yet to issue an official statement on the attacks. But if accurate, the numbers indicate one of Ukraine’s largest coordinated drone attacks on Russian soil since the war began.
“This is a new record for Ukraine,” wrote Ukrainian analyst Petro Andryushchenko on his Telegram channel. “The longest-running attack by Ukrainian UAVs, which began around 11 p.m. on May 19 and lasted until 4 a.m. on May 22.”
The exact extent of the damage caused is unclear.
How Ukraine is hitting Russia from long range
Russia’s description of the drones as “aircraft-type” also indicates that these aren’t the typical first-person-view uncrewed aerial systems used as attack drones in the war. Such drones are likely too short-ranged to reach regions such as Moscow.
Rather, Ukraine has been using small fixed-wing aircraft that resemble the Cessna propeller plane and, while laden with explosives, are meant to fly directly into targets hundreds of miles away.
Moscow’s traditional air defense systems have reportedly struggled to reliably take down these long-range drones, which fly at a maximum speed of 130 mph, much slower than a typical cruise missile.
Several reports this week suggested that some of the drones struck their targets.
Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Kursk, wrote on Telegram on Thursday that a Russian official was sent to the hospital with a hip and arm injury after being hit by a drone.
Meanwhile, the popular independent Russian news Telegram channel Baza reported that a plant in the city of Yelets was evacuated due to a fire from a drone attack, with eight people injured. BI could not independently verify this information.
Ukrainian media also cited a map alert by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, which indicated that a significant fire had broken out near an oil refinery in the Ryazan oblast.
The alert, seen by BI, indicated that the fire lasted between 12 to 24 hours on Thursday.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Wednesday that “unknown drones” had struck a plant in Oryol oblast that manufactured electronic parts for Russia’s main battle tanks, fighter jets, and ballistic missiles.
Drone waves coincide with key events
Air transport hubs across the country, including the capital’s four airports, were temporarily closed at times throughout the week. Similar incidents occurred in the days leading up to Russia’s May 9 Victory Day parade, when Russian tourist organizations said nearly 60,000 travelers had their plans disrupted due to Ukrainian drone attacks.
That week, the Kremlin said it had fought off an even larger drone attack of 524 uncrewed aerial vehicles, as it prepared to host two dozen world leaders for the parade to celebrate its military.
The latest series of attempted strikes came just after Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump ended their third phone call on Monday to discuss a cease-fire. The call had ended without a conclusive next step toward peace.
Meanwhile, Kyiv said that Russia launched hundreds of drone attacks this week at Ukrainian cities, including a reported 273 drones on the day before the Trump-Putin call.
Moscow typically deploys a different type of drone, the Iranian-designed Shahed, to attack urban centers in tandem with cruise or ballistic missiles.
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