Ukraine Launches Massive Drone Assault on Russia Amid Ongoing Conflict

Tue Sep 23 2025 10:52:10 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

In a significant escalation of aerial warfare, Ukraine has launched 221 drones targeting multiple regions in Russia, according to the Russian defense ministry. This incident is being reported as one of the largest attacks since May.

Ukraine’s recent drone launch marks a considerable intensification of hostilities, with Russia claiming to have intercepted 221 drones. The operation primarily targeted Bryansk and Smolensk, causing casualties and damage across multiple Russian regions. This attack follows a pattern of increasing Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory, coinciding with heightened tensions as military exercises commence in the region.

Russia says it downed 221 Ukrainian drones launched on its territory overnight, in one of the largest aerial assaults since May.

More than half of the drones were intercepted over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions, southwest of Moscow, where Lukoil facilities were reportedly targeted, the defence ministry stated.

Authorities in the Leningrad region reported bringing down 28 drones, and a fire broke out on a vessel in the Baltic port of Primorsk, Russia's largest oil terminal. The blaze was extinguished without casualties or leaks.

Meanwhile, two civilians were killed in Ukraine's Sumy region when a Russian glide bomb struck a village near the border.

Interceptions were reported across at least nine other areas of Russia, including Kaluga, Novgorod, and the Moscow area, where nine drones were said to have been destroyed. Debris was recorded across several locations, but Russian officials insisted there were no casualties.

Seven individuals, including five civilians and two military personnel, were injured when a drone struck a bus in Bryansk, as stated by the region's Governor Alexander Bogomaz.

Moscow's figures, which the BBC cannot independently verify, imply that Thursday night's attack constituted one of the largest Ukrainian aerial bombardments in over four months.

Historically, Russia claimed to have destroyed a record 524 drones on 7 May. In contrast, Ukrainian officials indicated that Russia had deployed 818 drones against their territory recently.

This aerial assault is described as one of the most significant events for the Leningrad region since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three and a half years ago, leading to a temporary suspension of operations at St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport.

Cross-border drone raids are increasingly visible in the conflict. A sustained Ukrainian drone attack in July forced the temporary closure of all Moscow's airports.

Ukrainian strikes have been reaching deeper into Russian territory recently, targeting refineries, fuel depots, and logistics hubs far from the frontlines.

In turn, Moscow has escalated its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy facilities, coinciding with stalled peace negotiations led by the US.

The ramped-up attacks occurred just ahead of a major joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, which takes place every four years and now occurs shortly after several Russian drones were downed or fell into Poland's airspace—a situation that Warsaw termed an unprecedented incursion.