Russia's Heartland, Moscow, Breached: Ukraine Launches 'Largest-Ever' Drone Onslaught with 1,600 UAVs

[Financial News] On the final day of Russia's State Duma (lower-house) election on the 20th (local time), Ukraine launched the largest drone assault since the outbreak of the war, targeting the capital, Moscow. As a key Moscow refinery was engulfed in flames and casualties were reported, Russia also carried out a massive bombardment of Ukraine. The two countries' escalating battle to strike infrastructure has reached a dangerous peak.
■ 450 Drones Head Toward Moscow, Setting Refinery Ablaze and Paralyzing Airports
According to major foreign media outlets, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Russia's air defenses intercepted more than 1,600 Ukrainian drones from the previous night through early morning, including 450 that approached Moscow. It was the largest-ever single attack.
The attack struck the Gazpromneft-Moscow Refinery in Kapotnya, southeastern Moscow, sparking a major fire. The facility is a key piece of infrastructure that supplies about 40% of the fuel market in the Moscow metropolitan area.

Civilian casualties followed. In the Ramenskoye area outside Moscow, a drone struck a 21-story residential building, sparking a fire and forcing about 600 people to evacuate. Authorities in the Moscow Region announced that two people, including a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man, were killed and at least 20 others, including three children, were injured. Logistics warehouses and power plants were also damaged.
Four major airports in the Moscow area were paralyzed after all takeoffs and landings were suspended. At least 30 flights were canceled or had their departures delayed. In one incident, a Turkish Airlines passenger plane traveling from Istanbul to Vnukovo Airport in Moscow turned back to Istanbul to avoid the attack.
■ Zelenskyy: "First Use of New Missile"—Trump's Call to 'Stop the Attacks' Undercut
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack marked the first use against the Russian mainland of the new domestically produced ballistic missile Pelican (FP-7), alongside the Flamingo explosive drone and the Palianytsia cruise missile. Zelenskyy stressed, "We struck Russia's key oil and logistics facilities," adding, "This is about cutting off the billions of dollars in revenue that sustain Russia's war machine."
U.S. President Donald Trump previously claimed on the 14th that "the two countries had agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure." However, neither side officially confirmed the agreement, and their fierce exchanges continued, undercutting the impact of Trump's remarks.
■ Russia Furious Over 'Election Interference' and Launches Massive Retaliatory Strikes on Ukraine
Russian authorities vehemently denounced the attack as an act of "terrorism" aimed at disrupting the lower-house election held over three days, from the 18th through the 20th.
The election, held to consolidate President Vladimir Putin's power base, was Russia's first parliamentary election since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It took place under strict controls, with the anti-war Yabloko party excluded from the party-list ballot by a Supreme Court ruling. The Central Election Commission of Russia said Moscow's online voting system also came under a powerful cyberattack overnight, but that the attack was blocked.
That same day, the Russian military also launched a massive retaliatory bombardment of Ukraine, causing devastating casualties.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia used 138 drones, including Shaheds and high-performance drones equipped with jet engines, to strike major areas of Ukraine between the night of the 19th and early morning of the 20th.
A residential area in the Fastiv area of Kyiv region was bombed, killing four people, including a mother and her two young children. In the northeastern Sumy region, another four people were killed when a vehicle came under a drone attack, bringing the civilian death toll to at least eight. Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that the strikes hit military targets, including a warehouse in Kyiv belonging to the Ukrainian weapons manufacturer Fire Point and a cargo ship at the port of Odessa.

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter