Ukraine launches ‘massive attack’ on Moscow, shutting down airports

Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on the Russian capital city of Moscow since the full-scale war began in 2022, injuring one person and forcing three major airports to divert flights, as Russia fired an unprecedented 145 drones against Ukraine.

Moscow’s regional governor, Andrei Vorobyov, called it a “massive attack” and said two houses in the village of Stanovoye, 15 miles southeast of the city, had caught fire after the drones fell. He said a 52-year-old woman was in intensive care after she was injured by shrapnel and hospitalized with burns to her face, neck and hands.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it “intercepted and destroyed” 34 drones over Moscow following the latest strikes on the capital.

All three airports have since resumed operations, including Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia’s busiest.

It is not the first time Ukraine has struck the capital, but its largest attack on the city to date comes as the United Kingdom’s defense chief, Adm. Tony Radakin, estimated that Russia had suffered its worst ever month for casualties since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Radakin said Russia’s forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured “every single day” in October, bringing its total losses to 700,000.

He said Russia was having to bear “enormous pain and suffering because of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s ambition,” and that losses came at the expense of “tiny increments of land.”

However, he added there was “no doubt that Russia is making tactical, territorial gains and that is putting pressure on Ukraine.”

Across the border, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia launched “a record 145 Shaheds and other strike drones against Ukraine” on Saturday night. The Iranian-made Shahed drones are a cheap but effective weapons being widely used by Russia.

Zelenskyy added Russia had used “more than 800 guided aerial bombs, around 600 strike drones, and nearly 20 missiles” this week.

Ukrainian officials said at least two people were injured and buildings were damaged as Russia launched an overnight attack on the southern region of Odesa.

“The enemy has once again launched a massive attack on our region,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odesa region said on its social media account. “Garages with cars and property were on fire, residential buildings, shops were damaged.”

Russian forces have also taken control of Vovchenka village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s state-run news agency RIA reported on Sunday.

As Russia continues its offensive, Ukraine is also reckoning with a shifting political landscape as its biggest funder elects a new president.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would be able to resolve Russia’s invasion before he even takes office, and has praised Putin while blaming Zelenskyy for the war.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him, because I feel very badly for those people,” he said during an interview with the “PBD Podcast” in October. “But he should never have let that war start. The war’s a loser.”

During his campaign, Trump also refused to commit to sending more aid to the embattled country’s ailing defenses.

The U.S. has approved $175 billion in aid to Ukraine, more than any other country. If Trump did withdraw American support, Ukraine’s defense against the Kremlin could take a massive hit.

Last week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election win and said his desire to facilitate an end to the crisis in Ukraine “deserves attention.”

Zelenskyy publicly welcomed Trump’s victory, saying he looked forward to an “era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership.”

But in an interview with The New Yorker in September, Zelenskyy said, “Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”

As Russia launched drones at Odesa, Russian regional governors said Sunday that Ukraine also set several nonresidential buildings on fire with overnight attacks of its own on Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions, between Moscow and Ukraine’s northern border.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 14 drones over Bryansk and seven over the Kaluga region overnight, including a further seven over Oryol and six over Kursk, the border region invaded by Ukraine in August.

“Emergency services and firefighters are on the site,” Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian border region of Bryansk, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, without providing further detail.

Russia and Ukraine have both turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons, ramping up their own production while also seeking new ways to destroy them.

Moscow has developed a series of electronic “umbrellas” over the city, with a complex web of air defenses capable of shooting down drones before they reach the Kremlin at the heart of the Russian capital.

Zelenskyy also said Thursday that North Korean troops had suffered losses in clashes with Ukraine.

Two weeks ago, the Pentagon confirmed that some 10,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia for training and are presumed to be joining the fight against Ukraine, intensifying their partnership and alarming the United States and its allies.

According to Zelenksyy, there were 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the areas bordering Ukraine and were taking part in “combat against Ukrainian militaries.”

“There are losses, this is a fact,” he said.