Largest drone strike of the war hits Moscow

 On the night of Saturday, May 16th to 17th, 2026, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched the very largest drone attack of the Russia-Ukraine War so far against targets in the Moscow region, after Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly rejected a Ukrainian proposal to halt long-range, drone strikes, and deliberately launched numerous drone attacks against Kyiv, which killed 24 Ukrainian civilians.

Ukrainian news outlet Telegram Exilenova+ reported that, “Today saw the largest attack on Moscow since the start of the full-scale invasion. Around a dozen targets were hit…The (Ukrainian) Defense Forces have once again proved that nothing is impossible, even if (the Russians) have four or five or more layers of air defense.”

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Kovalenko said that, “The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region. This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air.”

Ukraine targeted the Elma Technology Park, the Moscow Oil Refinery, Sheremetyevo airport, the Solnechnogorsk Oil Depot, and the Volodarsk Oil Pumping Station. In nearby Zelenograd, the Angstrom enterprise industrial site, a producer of microelectronics, semiconductors, and microprocessors, was struck. Absolute chaos ensued at nearby Sheremetyevo airport after it sustained damage, with smoke and fire reported nearby, and more than 200 flights were either delayed or canceled. And 75 additional flights were disrupted at Vnukovo Airport, frequently used by Vladimir Putin.

In Dubna, 40 miles north of the outer Moscow Ring Road (Route A113), the Raduga Machine-Building Design Bureau, a major producer of cruise missiles and other missile technology, was hit. Fortunately, only three people were killed (two men in Pogorelki and a woman in Khimki) in the staggering, nocturnal attacks. Ukraine also launched drone strikes in occupied Crimea, with explosions reported near the Kacha and Belbek military airfields, currently under Russian military control.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that, “Drones were detected in many towns across the Moscow region. Different types of strike UAVs were used in the raid, and jet-powered drones were also recorded over the Moscow region.” They claim to have intercepted 81 Ukrainian drones over Moscow and 556 drones nationwide overnight, although the total number used in the attacks remains unknown.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia launched 287 drones that same night, injuring at least nine people in the Dnipropetrovsk region and Zaporizhzhia district. They shot down 279 of those drones across seven locations.

It’s interesting to note that the desperate Russians even launched a highly advanced, fifth-generation, Su-57 Felon stealth fighter on an unsuccessful drone chase. During the ongoing war in Ukraine, these high-value assets have been mostly restricted to remaining inside Russian airspace in order to avoid sophisticated Ukrainian air defenses, such as their American-made MIM-104E/F Patriot missile batteries.

These latest drone attacks certainly shattered the myth of Russian invincibility. In fact, Moscow is the most heavily-defended city in the entire world, surrounded by concentric rings of SA-10B Grumble (S-300PS/PM), SA-21B Growler (S-400), and SA-22B Greyhound (Pantsir-S2) air defense missile batteries, thought to be totally impenetrable, yet the Ukrainian drones strikes well inside this vast, defensive array were quite successful, anyway.

Perhaps this is why Putin reportedly no longer visits his lavish villa in Novo-Ogaryovo, just 16 miles west of the Kremlin, along the south bank of the Moskva (“Moscow”) River, only 14 miles east of two different, SA-10B Grumble air defense missile sites, and with SA-22B Greyhound missile systems even closer. The evolution of drone warfare over the past four years has completely changed the perception, as well as the reality, of supposed invincibility.

Now, it’s the Russians who howl in alarm that, “Everything’s completely f***ed up! The sirens have gone off…I ran out of the house…I’m panicking. I’m shaking…I don’t know what to do…Everything’s completely exposed. I’m so scared…God, I’ve never been this frightened in my life.”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense noted that, “The war is returning to where it came from. Previously, these facilities were protected by a massive amount of air defense systems. But something strange happened. God, bomb Russia.” President Zelenskyy added, “Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities ​are entirely justified. This time, Ukraine’s long-range sanctions have reached Moscow Oblast, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its ​war.”

Galatians 6:7 in the Bible reads, “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Hosea 8:7 takes this warning a step further: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” And, as Aesop’s Fables cautioned in 260 B.C., “Be careful what you wish for, lest it comes true!” Moscow is just now beginning to reap the whirlwind for their unwarranted, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.