As Kyiv’s long-range campaign continues to bring the war closer to the Russian capital, Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Moscow early on June 30, killing a six-month-old baby in the Moscow region and hitting a crucial military satellite communications facility for the second time in eight days.
Huge Overnight Assault
Russian air defenses stopped 61 Ukrainian drones as they approached the capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who wrote on Telegram that “another large-scale attack by enemy drones has been repelled.” 419 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight in 18 Russian areas, including seized Crimea, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
According to Sobyanin’s Telegram messages, the attack started at around 4 a.m. local time and occurred in several waves. A six-month-old infant was murdered in Yegoryevsk, a town in the Moscow region, after a private home caught fire after what local authorities characterized as a drone accident. Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of Moscow Oblast, stated on Telegram that two people and a child were hurt and admitted to the hospital.
The Dubna Space Center was hit once more.
Ukraine’s drones struck Russia’s Dubna Space Communications Center in Moscow Oblast, which is around 500 kilometers from Ukraine’s border, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Today, our long-range sanctions against Russia for this war once again reached the Dubna Space Communications Center,” Zelensky stated.
The station facilitates satellite operations, intelligence gathering, and military communications for Russia. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, a 32-meter satellite communications antenna and the facility’s main control structure were destroyed in an earlier hit on June 22. Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian forces were \ against further military installations and had recently attacked four such satellite communications stations in the Moscow and Vladimir regions.
Increasing Stress On The Kremlin
In recent weeks, Moscow and Russian infrastructure have been the target of an increasingly aggressive Ukrainian long-range drone operation. Russian officials said that 660 Ukrainian drones were shot down between June 26 and 27 alone, one of the biggest waves since the full-scale assault began. Moscow was the target of about sixty drones on June 22, which resulted in the temporary shutdown of airports. Sobyanin stated that 76 drones were stopped as they approached the capital on June 19.
The ongoing campaign has started to show results within Russia. As Russia attempts to normalize supply, Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially acknowledged gas station lines and gasoline shortages brought on by Ukrainian actions in recent weeks. A section of the fuel market in the capital was reportedly disrupted when the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya caught fire due to Ukrainian strikes earlier in June. Zelensky stated, “We are making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to wage its war against Ukraine and occupy our territories.”