Moscow launched a substantial missile and drone attack on western Ukraine in retaliation for a Ukrainian attack on a Russian tanker. The shelling resulted in the deaths of at least six people, while Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights due to a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 70 attack drones and missiles, including cruise missiles from aircraft over the Caspian Sea and Iranian-made strike UAVs. The Starokostiantyniv area was heavily hit, damaging several buildings and igniting a fire at a warehouse. There are suspicions that the strike was targeting the city’s airfield.
The facilities of the aircraft engine manufacturer Motor Sich in the Zaporizhzhia region were also attacked. These attacks are in response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea. In addition, Ukraine struck a major Russian port with drones on the same day.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the Russian aggression and called the attack on the civilian vessel a “war crime.” Meanwhile, heavy shelling continues along the frontline in Eastern Ukraine as Kyiv pushes forward with its counteroffensive.
In the Kharkiv region, two people were killed and four injured during a Russian airstrike, and a guided bomb hit a blood transfusion center. In other areas, Russian attacks caused injuries and ignited fires. Flights were briefly halted at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after a drone was shot down in the airspace around the city, marking the fourth strike on the Russian capital in the space of a month.
The drone attack was unsuccessful, and no casualties were reported. Ukrainian authorities did not claim responsibility for the raid. These escalations demonstrate the ongoing tensions and vulnerability in the region as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second year.