An Indian national, working at the Indian Embassy in Russia, has been killed and three others have been injured after a drone attack in Moscow on Sunday. According to the Indian Embassy in Russia, officials have visited the location and met the injured workers in the hospital.
“The Embassy condoles the loss of life and is working with the company management and local authorities to provide necessary assistance to the workers,” the Indian diplomatic mission said in a post on X.
Ukraine launches large-scale attack on Russia
While the Indian Embassy did not provide further details about the drone attack, Reuters, citing Russian officials, reported that at least four people were killed, including three in the Moscow region, after launched its biggest overnight drone attack on the Russian capital in more than a year.
Ukraine’s President had vowed retribution on Friday following Russia’s heaviest drone and missile attack on Kyiv over a two-day period since the war started more than four years ago.
Confirming the attack, Zelenskyy post a video on X of a drone in flight, columns of black smoke and fire crews trying to extinguish the flames.
“Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that Ukraine was able to strike targets more than 500 km from the border despite dense Russian air defences around Moscow.
“We are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war,” he said.
Ukraine’s defence ministry also said that Moscow and the region “have experienced the largest-scale attack since the full-scale invasion began” in February 2022.
More than 550 drones shot down
Russian authorities said its Air defences shot down 556 drones overnight across the country, with another 30 drones intercepted after dawn.
These interceptions took place across 14 Russian regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine and the Black and Azov seas. In Moscow alone, authorities said air defence systems intercepted more than 80 drones overnight.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil refinery
Ukrainian drones had also damaged unspecified “infrastructure” and several high-rise buildings, Andrei Vorobyev, the Governor of Moscow oblast, said.
Ukraine’s security service SBU has also claimed to have hit an oil refinery and two oil-pumping stations in the Moscow region.
“Strikes on defense-industry facilities, military infrastructure and oil logistics sites reduce the enemy’s ability to continue its war against Ukraine. These attacks show that even the heavily protected Moscow region is not safe,” the SBU said on Telegram.
Russia has yet to confirm the strike.
Renewed attacks post-Victory Day truce
The Ukrainian strikes follow the end of a brief ceasefire that allowed Russia to hold its annual on May 9. Zelenskyy had even mocked the Victory Day parade by issuing a decree that “permitted” the annual event, which was significantly scaled down this year.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force has said that Russia attacked Ukraine with 287 drones overnight into Sunday, 279 of which were shot down or jammed.
