In this handout photograph posted on the official Telegram channel of Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov on May 17, 2026, Russian rescuers work in a heavily damaged house following an air attack at an undisclosed location in the Moscow region [Handout/Telegram via AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and ReutersPublished On 17 May 202617 May 2026
At least four people have been killed after Ukraine launched large-scale drone attacks on several Russian regions, including Moscow, in what officials described as the biggest drone assault in more than a year.
Russian authorities said on Sunday three people were killed in the Moscow region and another person died in Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border.
Moscow region’s Governor Andrei Vorobyov said a woman was killed after a drone struck a house in Khimki, north of Moscow. Rescue workers were searching the rubble for another possible victim. Two other men were killed in the village of Pogorelki in the Mytishchi district, he said.
Vorobyov added that apartment buildings and infrastructure sites were damaged in the attacks.
Russia’s state news agency TASS, quoting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, reported that air defence systems shot down 81 drones targeting the capital overnight.
He said 12 people were injured, most of them near Moscow’s oil refinery, adding it continued operating without disruption, while three homes were damaged.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it intercepted 556 drones across the country overnight and into Sunday morning.
Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow’s largest, said drone debris had fallen on its grounds but caused no damage.
The attacks came after United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, suggested the war could be nearing an end. Trump said last week he believed Moscow and Kyiv would “soon reach a deal” to stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks continued in parts of Ukraine. In the Kharkiv region, authorities said Russian forces targeted 15 settlements over the past 24 hours, wounding seven people.
In the southern Kherson region, officials said a 36-year-old man was killed after a Russian drone dropped explosives on the village of Inhulets in Kherson on Saturday morning.
