Ukraine launched almost two hundred drones at Moscow. The massive swarm caused reports of fires in the Russian capital, and more than a dozen people have been wounded in the surrounding region. This is one of Kiev’s largest aerial attacks on Russia.

Ukraine Drone Strike on Russia Triggers Massive Explosion

Air defenses shot down at least 194 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on the approach to the Russian capital overnight, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote in a Telegram post on Thursday morning. Seventeen people were wounded in the drone raid.

Witnesses reported fires and large smoke plumes in several areas outside of the city.

According to a report by RT, several drones reached the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeastern Kapotnya district of the city, Sobyanin said. Firefighters have been deployed to the site. Debris from a downed UAV also delivered minor damage to a building at the Sadovod shopping center in southeastern Moscow, according to the mayor.

The Russian Defense Ministry said more than 550 Ukrainian UAVs had been shot down across the country since Wednesday evening. The interceptions took place in Moscow, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Orel, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Rostov, and Ryazan regions, as well as in Crimea and over the Sea of Azov, it said. –RT,

The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Thursday that Russian forces carried out another strike overnight against Ukraine’s military-linked energy infrastructure in response to what it is calling “terrorist attacks” by Kiev.

Russia and Ukraine Trade Record Drone Strikes as Conflict Escalates

The Russian ruling class has been accusing Ukraine of committing “terrorist” actions by using drones to strike civilian areas. Recently, Kiev struck a bus carrying a Belarusian youth soccer team, which enraged both Moscow and Belarus.

Russia Says Kiev’s Drones Are “Hunting Civilians”

Both countries have started criminal investigations into the strike on the bus.