Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia came under a large-scale overnight drone attack on Sept. 12, with Moscow and Leningrad Oblast among the areas targeted, according to Russian officials and media reports.
Russian air defenses intercepted 221 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed the morning after the strike.
The attack reportedly caused fires on a vessel in the Primorsk Port and at a Lukoil facility in Smolensk. Residents of Leningrad Oblast said the attack was one of the most massive strikes on the region since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports at the time of publication.
Around 30 drones were shot down over Leningrad Oblast, regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
Drone debris crashed at separate locations in Tosno, a town 53 kilometers (33 miles) southwest of St. Petersburg, but caused no casualties or damage, he claimed. Fragments and wreckage also landed in other villages in the region, including Vsevolozhsk, Pokrovskoye, and Uzmino.
Earlier in the night, Drozdenko said that air defenses were at work over the Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg.
The attack caused a fire on a vessel in the Primorsk Port, Drozdenko reported. He claimed the fire was extinguished and that there is no threat of flooding or oil spills.
Drozdenko later reported that the attack caused a fire to break out at a pumping station in Primorsk. He said it was extinguished without casualties.
The Primorsk Port is the largest Russian oil-loading port on the Baltic Sea.
The drone threat in the region forced St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport to shut down — an increasingly common procedure amid intensifying Ukrainian drone strikes. Nearly 50 flights have been disrupted or canceled due to the closure.
Residents of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast continue to report explosions, according to the Russian independent news channel Astra.
Drones also targeted the Russian capital. At least nine Ukrainian drones have been shot down near Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said.
Sobyanin said on Telegram that emergency crews were headed to the site where the drone debris fell. The mayor did not provide details as to where the drones were shot down or provide information on any damage.
Russian Telegram channels, citing resident accounts, reported explosions in the communities of Mozhaysk and Dedovsk in Moscow Oblast, located just west of the outskirts of the capital.
Another wave of drones attacked the Russian city of Smolensk, according to officials and local residents. Smolensk Oblast Governor Vasily Anokhin said air defense units were repelling a drone attack over the region, but gave no further information.
Smolensk residents reported explosions in the city. In footage posted to social media, eyewitnesses claimed that the drones targeted a nearby Lukoil facility. Video shows smoke and flames rising from a large fire at an undisclosed site.
Anokhin did not mention oil facilities or any possible targets in his report.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 85 drones were downed over Bryansk Oblast, 42 over Smolensk Oblast, 28 over Leningrad Oblast, 18 over Kaluga Oblast, 14 over Novgorod Oblast, and nine over the Moscow and Oryol oblasts.
Drones were also shot down over Belgorod, Rostov, Tver, Pskov, Tula, and Kursk oblasts, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s military has not commented on the reported attack.
Exclusive: Europe scrambles for Ukrainian interceptor drones after Russia’s attack on Poland
European countries are scrambling for Ukrainian anti-drone systems following the unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by Russian kamikaze drones on Sept. 10, officials and manufacturers have told the Kyiv Independent. “We were already previously discussing with the Ukrainian side investments in interceptor drones, but now we are even more interested in them,” a European military diplomat told the Kyiv Independent, on condition of anonymity. “We need to be prepared for war, so it is high
Ukraine has previously launched drones towards Moscow with limited success in engaging military targets in the region. Ukraine has also deliberately shifted its drone strategy in recent months to disrupt Russian aviation operations and make the war visible to the Russian population.
The attack on Russia comes just days after Russia launched a record drone and missile attack on Kyiv, killing a woman and her newborn child and injuring 20 others. The attack also damaged Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers building in central Kyiv for the first time in the full-scale war.
Russia has increased drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, regularly launching over 500 attack drones in one night.
Overnight on Sept. 10, Russian drones violated Polish airspace, forcing Poland’s Air Force to down the drones for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Nineteen Russian drones were recorded crossing into Poland, in what Polish officials describe as a “deliberately targeted” attack.
German media outlets Spiegel and Welt reported on Sept. 11 that the Russian drones shot down were reportedly headed for Rzeszow Airport, a key logistics hub for aid to Ukraine.
Russian drone incursion into Poland ‘could have been a mistake,’ Trump says
When asked by reporters what his reaction was to the incursion, Trump responded: “It could have been a mistake. But regardless, I’m not happy with anything to do with that whole situation.”
