Ukraine conducts large-scale drone strikes on Russia, killing 4 : NPR

This photo released by the official telegram channel of Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev shows damage caused by a Ukrainian drone attack, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 17, 2026.

Andrei Vorobyev/Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vo/AP

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Andrei Vorobyev/Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vo/AP

kyiv, Ukraine — One of Ukraine’s largest drone strikes against Russia killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and injured a dozen others, local authorities said Sunday. Debris fell on Russia’s largest airport without causing damage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the drone strikes, saying they were “completely justified.” Russia has repeatedly launched similar attacks on the Ukrainian capital and other cities during the war, and one expert said the strikes appeared to be retaliation for recent Russian attacks on kyiv.

Russian drone strikes on Ukraine injured eight people overnight, Ukrainian authorities said.

In Ukraine’s strikes against Russia, a woman was killed after a drone struck her home in Khimki, a Russian town just northwest of Moscow, and two men died in the village of Pogorelki, located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the capital, according to local governor Andrei Vorobyev.

Ukrainian drones also damaged unspecified “infrastructure” and several high-rise buildings, Vorobyev said on social media.

A man was also killed after a drone hit a truck in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, according to local authorities.

In Moscow itself, at least 12 people were injured during the nighttime strike, mainly near the entrance to the city’s oil refinery, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported. Sobyanin said the refinery’s “technology” was not damaged.

Russia’s largest airport, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, said drone debris fell on its ground without causing damage or affecting flights.

Russian defenses shot down 81 drones heading towards Moscow overnight, state agency Tass reported, citing Sobyanin, marking one of the largest attacks on the city since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Russian air defenses destroyed 556 drones over Russia overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday morning. By shortly after noon local time, more than 1,000 drones had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours.

Zelensky said the drones had flown more than 500 kilometers from Ukrainian territory and that Ukraine was “defeating” Russian air defense systems concentrated in and around the capital.

“Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and attacks on our cities and communities are completely justified. This time, long-range Ukrainian sanctions have reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war,” Zelensky said.

This photo released by the official telegram channel of Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev shows a house on fire after a Ukrainian attack in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 17, 2026.

Andrei Vorobyev/Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vo/AP

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Andrei Vorobyev/Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vo/AP

Revenge for Russian attacks, expert says

Nigel Gould Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, said the large-scale attack on Ukraine appeared to be “the retaliation or revenge promised by President Zelensky after Russia’s ferocious attacks on kyiv.”

The strikes came immediately after the end of a brief ceasefire that allowed Russia to hold its annual Victory Day parade on May 9, commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

“It speaks to the fact that Ukraine has the capacity to strike on a very significant scale in or around the Russian capital,” bringing the war back to the Russians in a way that would be “very unwelcome” for the Kremlin, Gould Davies told the Associated Press.

“There is no ongoing peace process that could be disrupted. What (the attack) is more likely to do is add to the darkening cloud of concern over Russia that has grown palpably over the last three or four months,” he said.

He cited a combination of factors, including Russia’s recent setbacks on the battlefield, the deteriorating domestic economic situation and the Kremlin’s intensifying crackdown on the internet, including in Moscow and Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.

“The fact that Ukraine is reminding people in Moscow that they are vulnerable to these attacks is likely to intensify concerns now,” Gould Davies said. “However, I see no chance, in the short term, that even these factors combined will prompt Russia to consider the compromises that will be necessary for peace negotiations.”

Ukrainian drones are also flying deep into Russia to strike oil installations, sending plumes of smoke visible from space and bringing toxic rain to Black Sea tourist destinations. The attacks are aimed at reducing Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Although their economic impact is so far uncertain – the rise in oil prices caused by the war in Iran and the resulting easing of US sanctions have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers – the scale of the strikes and their environmental impact are bringing the war home to ordinary Russians, far from the front lines.

Eight injured in Russian drone strikes on Ukraine

Russia attacked Ukraine with 287 drones overnight Sunday, 279 of which were shot down or jammed, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.

The strikes injured eight people in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region: three in the regional capital of Dnipro, four in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and one in the Synelkove district, Ukraine’s emergency services said.

Residential buildings were damaged in all three locations, the service said.