Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it had downed 193 Ukrainian drones overnight, with local authorities reporting one person killed in the attacks.
“During the past night, air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 193 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
According to the ministry, 40 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, including 34 heading directly toward the capital. Another 47 were intercepted over the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, as well as 42 over Kaluga and 32 over Tula.
Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said a minibus was struck in the village of Pogar, killing the driver and injuring five passengers.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses destroyed 36 drones approaching the capital between the evening of Oct. 26 and early Oct. 27. He said emergency workers were dispatched to the sites where debris fell, but there were no reports of damage or injuries in the city itself.
According to the ASTRA and Mash Telegram channels, residents in several Moscow suburbs – including Domodedovo, Podolsk, Dubna, and Troitsk – reported hearing explosions.
Flights were briefly suspended at Zhukovsky and Domodedovo airports, where five flights were canceled and six delayed. Operations resumed about two hours later.
A fire broke out at an oil depot in Serpukhov, south of Moscow, but was quickly extinguished. Another blaze was reported in a wooded area of Kommunarka, within the city limits. Officials did not specify the causes.
Russia has maintained a near-constant barrage of drone and missile attacks – particularly on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine has increasingly responded with long-range strikes targeting Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities.
This was the second major drone attack on Moscow in a month. In late September, air defenses shot down 41 drones over two days. The largest strike so far occurred in May, when 109 drones were intercepted over two and a half days, causing widespread flight delays and temporary internet outages across central Russia.