KYIV, UKRAINE: Hundreds of drones targeted Moscow on Sunday as Russia launched a fresh wave of missile strikes across Ukraine, killing at least three people and injuring more than 20 others, according to officials on both sides.
The latest escalation also saw the conflict spill further into neighbouring NATO territory after a Spanish fighter jet operating in support of Romania shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace near the country’s borders with Ukraine and Moldova.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences had intercepted more than 600 drones approaching the capital during an intense overnight assault. He said about 200 drones were shot down over the Moscow region.
Ukrainian attack drones swarmed multiple Russian Moscow-area e-commerce distribution centers this morning.
Seen here, the Koledino Wildberries distribution center burns out of control. pic.twitter.com/Vmbxapeaoq
— распад и неуважение (@VictorKvert2008) August 16, 2026
Moscow regional governor Andrey Vorobyov described the attack as one of the largest in recent memory. He said six people were wounded in the region and reported that a drone strike triggered a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in the Koledino Industrial Park in Podolsk.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted facilities associated with Wildberries, a major Russian online retailer, saying such attacks are intended to hit infrastructure supporting Moscow’s war effort and come in response to Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. Since mid-July, Ukrainian forces have reportedly struck around 20 Wildberries warehouses and related facilities.
Russian strikes hit Ukrainian cities
Russia’s latest missile attacks caused casualties in several parts of Ukraine. Two people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region, while another person died in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
More than 20 people were wounded in attacks affecting Kyiv, Brovary, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa and the Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian forces also struck two industrial facilities in Kryvyi Rih, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defence council.
In Kyiv, authorities sounded an air-raid alert shortly before 2am local time, with explosions reported soon afterwards. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital was under a ballistic missile attack and urged residents to remain in shelters.
The strikes caused fires in the Obolonsky and Holosiivskyi districts, according to local authorities. The central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk in Poltava region was also targeted, although officials did not immediately provide details about damage or casualties.
Russian city also reports deaths
The violence was not confined to Ukraine. Three people were reported killed in Russia’s Rostov region amid the latest wave of attacks, highlighting the growing reach of Ukrainian drone operations deep inside Russian territory.
Moscow has continued to face increasingly frequent drone attacks, while Ukraine has stepped up strikes against Russian military-related infrastructure, oil refineries and other facilities it says contribute to Moscow’s war economy.
Russia, meanwhile, has maintained near-daily missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian territory since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
READ ALSO: Russian Strikes Kill 17 in Kyiv as Ukraine Fails to Intercept Missiles
Drone shot down over Romania
The conflict also spilled into NATO airspace when a drone entered Romanian territory near the border with Ukraine and Moldova.
Romania’s Defence Ministry said a Spanish F-18 fighter jet shot down the drone after it breached Romanian airspace. The debris fell in an unpopulated area of Galati region, close to the Ukrainian border. The origin of the drone was not immediately established.
The incident came only days after NATO reported that its fighter aircraft had shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace. Latvia’s Defence Ministry said it was the second time within a week that a drone had been brought down over its territory.
Romania has repeatedly reported violations of its airspace since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, particularly as Russian and Ukrainian drone operations have intensified around the Black Sea.
In July, Romania expelled a Russian embassy employee, describing the move as a firm response to repeated incursions by drones into its airspace. Romanian forces had shot down three drones on three consecutive days before the expulsion.
The latest incidents underscore the growing risk that the expanding drone war could further affect countries bordering the conflict, particularly NATO members on Ukraine’s eastern flank.
