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Ukraine Launches Large-Scale Drone Strikes on Russia, Killing at Least Four
Ukrainian drones struck targets near Moscow and in the Belgorod region overnight, killing at least four people and wounding 12 others. Russian air defenses reported shooting down hundreds of drones while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the operation justified.
May 17, 10:25 AM·2m read5 sources
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Los Angeles TimesAudio version
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One of Ukraine’s largest drone strikes on Russia killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen others, local authorities said Sunday. Debris fell on Russia’s largest airport without causing damage or affecting flights.
Andrei Vorobyev. Ukrainian drones also damaged unspecified infrastructure and several high-rise buildings, Vorobyev said on social media. One man was killed after a drone struck a truck in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, according to local authorities.
In Moscow, at least 12 people were wounded in the nighttime strike, mostly near the entrance to the city’s oil refinery, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Hours later, the Indian Embassy in Moscow reported that an Indian worker died in a drone strike in the Moscow region, and three other Indian nationals were hospitalized with injuries.
Russian defenses shot down 81 drones headed for 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 Feb. 24, 2022. Russian air defenses overnight destroyed 556 drones over Russia, the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Azov and Black seas, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday morning.
Shortly after midday, it reported that more than 1,000 drones had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours. Zelenskyy said that the drones had flown more than 300 miles from Ukrainian territory and that Ukraine was “overcoming” Russian air defense systems concentrated in and around the capital.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 287 drones overnight into Sunday, 279 of which were shot down or jammed, the Ukrainian air force reported. The strikes wounded eight people in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian authorities said.
““Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified. This time, Ukrainian long-distance sanctions have reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: Their state must end its war.””
