Two killed, 18 injured as Ukraine conducts largest-ever drone attack on Moscow

On the night of March 11, a total of 337 drones attacked Russian regions, with dozens shot down near Moscow. In the Moscow region, 20 people were injured, two of whom died. Residential buildings were damaged, and fires broke out. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin called the attack the most massive one to date. The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on terrorism.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by АрміяInform, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ukrainian UAV

Scale of the Attack

According to the Ministry of Defense, as of 08:22 Moscow time:

• 91 drones were intercepted and destroyed over the Moscow region;
• 126 over the Kursk region;
• 38 over the Bryansk region;
• 25 over the Belgorod region;
• 22 over the Ryazan region;
• 10 over the Kaluga region;
• 8 each over the Lipetsk and Oryol regions;
• 6 over the Voronezh region;
• 3 over the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Click here to see more photos and videos from the sites of the drone attack

First reports of drones flying toward the capital came at 04:35, with drones being shot down in Ramenskoye and Domodedovo. By 08:52, a total of 74 drones had been downed near Moscow.

Casualties and Damage

A 38-year-old security guard was killed when debris from a downed drone fell on a parking lot near the Miratorg production facility in Domodedovo, setting 20 cars on fire. Two other men were hospitalized. Later, officials confirmed that around 40 vehicles were damaged.

A 50-year-old man died at a hospital in Vidnoye. Miratorg later confirmed that he was also an employee, promising compensation of 1.5 million rubles to both victims' families. Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov also announced payments of 1 million rubles to each family.

A woman in Kotlyakovo village was seriously injured by drone debris and hospitalized in critical condition.

In the Prigorod Lesnoye residential complex in Vidnoye, six people, including a four-year-old child, were injured when drone fragments crashed to the ground. All received medical assistance.

In Ramenskoye, five people sought medical attention, though none required hospitalization. Seven apartments in a residential building on Severnoye Highway were damaged. A drone also hit a private house in the village of Sofyino, causing a fire, which was later contained.

In total, 20 people (including three children) were injured, with two fatalities. Six people, including one child, were hospitalized. One victim is in critical condition, while another is in serious condition. The rest, including the child, have moderate or minor injuries.

Attacks on Other Regions

• Kaluga region: Eight drones were shot down. Fires broke out in the Peremyshl district, and windows in a residential building were damaged in Zhukov. No casualties were reported.
• Belgorod region: Drone attacks damaged homes in multiple towns, leaving 36 settlements without power due to a downed power line.
• Lipetsk region: A drone crashed near a toll station on the M-4 highway, injuring a resident of Vladimir and damaging four vehicles.
• Vladimir region: Four drones were intercepted, with minor damage near a railway station in Yuryevets, though train services remained unaffected.

Flight Disruptions

Temporary flight restrictions were imposed overnight in Astrakhan, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Yaroslavl.

Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on terrorism in response to the large-scale drone attacks.

Details

Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over 21.5 million residents in its metropolitan area. The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), while the urban area covers 5,891 square kilometers (2,275 sq mi), and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 sq mi). Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the most populous city entirely in Europe, the largest urban and metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent.