Vladimir Zelensky: “Ukrainian sanctions” have reached the Moscow region

Kyiv possibly delivered the strongest strike on Moscow and the Moscow region since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine overnight on Saturday, damaging dozens of facilities and resulting in casualties.

A massive attack by Ukrainian drones overnight in the Moscow region claimed the lives of at least three people, with at least 17 others injured, Russian authorities reported. According to Ukrainian sources, this was the largest drone attack on the Moscow region since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The targets of the strike, as stated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), were "military-industrial complex facilities and oil enterprises."

Among them is the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya. According to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, 12 construction workers were injured at the refinery, but he claims production has not been disrupted.

The SBU also reported an attack on the Angstrom plant, which produces electronic and optical equipment, and two oil pumping stations in the Moscow region - Volodarskoye and Solnechnogorsk. Numerous images circulating on social media show columns of smoke in the area of the latter pumping station.

Various publications report that the Elma Technopark in Zelenograd was also attacked.

Additionally, apartment buildings in several districts of the capital and in a number of towns in the region were damaged, particularly in Istra, Krasnogorsk, and Khimki, where, as stated by Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov on Telegram, a woman was killed when a private residential building was struck. Two other individuals - a woman and a man - died when a drone hit a construction site in the village of Pogorelki (in Mytishchi).

At Sheremetyevo, around 200 flights were canceled or delayed following the attack. A fire broke out at the airport due to falling drone debris, "at a safe distance from passenger service areas and aircraft," representatives of Sheremetyevo claim.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that from Saturday evening to early Sunday morning, local air defense forces intercepted 556 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and annexed Crimea, with another 30 shot down later on Sunday. According to the Mayor of Moscow, at least 120 of these UAVs were in the capital region.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky confirmed the attack in a post on social media platform X, sharing a video of a large column of black smoke in the distance and writing: "Ukrainian long-range sanctions have reached the Moscow region."

"Our retaliatory actions against Russia's prolongation of the war and its strikes on our cities and towns are fully justified," he added.

Zelensky also noted that "the distance from the state border of Ukraine is more than 500 km. The concentration of Russian air defense systems in the Moscow region is the highest. But we are overcoming this as well."

These strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine followed a massive barrage of missiles and drones launched by the Russian Armed Forces earlier this week. As a result of the attack in Kyiv, at least 24 people were killed.

In a separate social media post, Zelensky stated that this week, Russian troops used more than 3,170 strike drones against Ukraine, over 1,300 guided aerial bombs, and 74 missiles, often targeting residential buildings and civilian infrastructure; 52 people were killed.

This week, both sides exchanged 205 prisoners of war each; this was the first stage of a planned exchange under the formula "1000 for 1000."