Russia and Ukraine exchanged heavy drone attacks on Sunday, disrupting Russian air travel following Moscow’s recent large-scale aerial offensive. This marks a significant escalation in the three-year conflict.
Social media images depicted crowded Russian airports, including major international hubs in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The disruptions stemmed from Ukrainian drone strikes on Saturday and overnight, leading to numerous flight delays and cancellations, according to the Russian Transport Ministry.
Sheremetyevo in Moscow and Pulkovo in St. Petersburg were among the airports most affected. Other airports across western and central Russia also experienced disruptions.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed to have intercepted 120 Ukrainian drones overnight and an additional 39 by 2pm local time on Sunday. The ministry did not specify the total number of drones launched or the extent of damage caused by those that reached their targets.
Earlier on Sunday, in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, two civilians were injured by Ukrainian drone strikes, according to governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
These Ukrainian strikes are a response to Russia’s heavy drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight into Friday, which Ukrainian officials described as the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
That seven-hour Russian assault resulted in at least two civilian deaths, numerous injuries, and widespread destruction, Ukrainian authorities reported. The attack occurred as Moscow intensified its efforts to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine reported that Russia launched a total of 550 drones and missiles across the country that night. These attacks coincide with a concentrated Russian push to breach sections of the approximate 620-mile front line, where Ukrainian forces face intense pressure.
On Sunday, further large-scale Russian drone strikes injured three civilians in Kyiv and at least two in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials stated.
Governor Vitaliy Kim reported a significant Russian attack involving Shahed drones targeting port infrastructure in Mykolaiv, central Ukraine. Warehouses and the port’s power grid sustained damage, but no casualties were reported.
Later, Russia launched a glide bomb and a drone at Kostyantynivka, a front-line eastern Ukrainian town. This attack resulted in the deaths of four civilians and injuries to a fifth, according to the prosecutor’s office. The drone struck a car carrying a married couple, killing both, a 39-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man, instantly.
