Russian authorities said they intercepted 221 Ukrainian drones in a large overnight aerial assault on Thursday, with the majority shot down over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions southwest of Moscow, in one of the biggest cross-border strikes reported since May.
The defence ministry said more than half of the drones were intercepted over Bryansk and Smolensk, where it said facilities belonging to oil company Lukoil were targeted. Officials in the Leningrad region reported 28 drones had been downed and that a fire broke out on a vessel at the Baltic port of Primorsk, Russia’s largest oil terminal; the blaze was later extinguished and authorities said there were no casualties or fuel leaks.
Interceptions were also reported across at least nine other regions, including Kaluga, Novgorod and the Moscow area, where nine drones were destroyed, the ministry said. Debris from the strikes was recorded across several localities. Regional authorities in Bryansk reported seven people were injured when a drone struck a bus — five civilians and two military personnel — while Moscow’s defence ministry said there were no fatalities in Russia linked to the assault. The BBC has been unable to independently verify the Russian figures.
Ukrainian officials have in turn reported heavy drone and missile activity by Russia in recent weeks. Kyiv has said Moscow deployed 818 drones against Ukrainian territory in recent weeks; Russia in May reported destroying a record 524 drones on a single day. Analysts and officials say cross-border drone raids and long-range strikes have become an increasingly prominent feature of the war.
The overnight attack temporarily disrupted operations at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, regional authorities said, marking one of the most significant assaults on the Leningrad region since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In July, sustained Ukrainian drone strikes forced the temporary closure of all of Moscow’s airports, demonstrating Kyiv’s growing ability to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
The exchanges come as Moscow prepares to begin a major joint military exercise with ally Belarus on Friday, an operation held every four years. The timing follows separate incidents in which Russian drones were shot down or fell on Polish territory, an episode Warsaw described as an unprecedented incursion into its airspace.
In Ukraine, officials reported additional civilian casualties on Thursday: two people were killed in the Sumy region when a Russian glide bomb struck a village near the border, underscoring the continued toll on communities near the front lines.
Since the conflict’s escalation into a full-scale war three-and-a-half years ago, strikes have increasingly targeted infrastructure such as refineries, fuel depots and logistics hubs hundreds of miles from the frontline. Moscow has also intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy facilities over the summer, actions officials link in part to the stalling of US-led diplomatic efforts to reach a peace agreement.
Both sides continue to exchange claims about the scale and impact of recent operations, while independent verification of reported numbers and damage remains limited. The overnight drone campaign marks the latest in a pattern of high-volume aerial engagements that analysts say could presage further escalation as regional military manoeuvres and geopolitical tensions converge.
Government statements did not include detailed independent assessments from third-party observers. International response to the most recent incidents has so far been limited to calls for de-escalation from some capitals, while officials in Poland and NATO have increased scrutiny of incidents involving third-party airspace amid concerns about wider regional spillover.