At least four people were killed, including three near Moscow, in one of the largest Ukrainian airstrikes against Russia since the war began, officials said. 

Nearly 600 Ukrainian drones were fired across more than a dozen Russian regions overnight, with at least 81 UAVs intercepted over Moscow, the TASS state agency reported. 

One woman was killed after a drone hit her home in Khimki, just northwest of Moscow, and two men died in the village of Pogorelki, north of the capital, regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyev said.   

The capital saw another 12 people wounded in the strikes that targeted the city’s oil refinery, mayor Sergei Sobyanin added. 

One man was also killed after a Ukrainian drone struck a lorry in the Belgorod region, along the border, according to local authorities.

Russia’s ministry of defense said it stopped 556 Ukrainian drones overnight, but the massive attack could not be completely intercepted.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the large-scale bombardment was “entirely justified” in the face of Moscow’s own mass airstrikes and “prolongation” of the war, which is in its fifth year. 

“This time, Ukrainian long-range sanctions reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war,” Zelensky said.    

“The concentration of Russian air defense in the Moscow region is the highest. But we are overcoming it,” he added. 

While Moscow has been largely spared by the war given its distance from the frontlines, Ukraine has been able to fire more and more attacks on the region, bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war to the forefront of the people. 

Sunday’s attack included a hit on Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, with debris falling and a fire erupting at the air hub, according to the Astra Russian media group. 

The incident resulted in some 200 flights being canceled, delayed or rerouted on Sunday. 

“Strikes on defence industry facilities, military infrastructure and oil logistics sites reduce the enemy’s ability to continue its war against Ukraine,” the Ukraine’s security service, SBU, said in a statement posted on Telegram. 

“These attacks show that even the heavily protected Moscow region is not safe,” the agency added.  

Ukraine’s capabilities to conduct more reliable deep strikes on Russia was seen as the primary reason behind the Kremlin’s move to hold a smaller annual military parade last week and agree to a brief cease-fire around it. 

The latest Ukrainian strike comes as Russia launched nearly 300 drones across the border on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more.   

With Post Wires