Ukraine fires nearly 800 drones at Russia amid deadly Kharkiv missile strike
Ukrainian forces launched one of their largest drone attacks on Russia since the invasion began more than four years ago, with nearly 800 drones deployed overnight, officials said on Tuesday (August 18, 2026). The salvo came just two days after a similar large-scale attack.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region killed at least 10 civilians and wounded 17 others, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration. The attack damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, he said.
The two countries are locked in an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes, while ground fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front line remains largely static. Analysts say the widespread use of drones and ground robots has made troop movements difficult, preventing either side from making significant territorial gains.
Ukraine has developed and deployed domestically produced long-range drones over the past year, which have drawn international attention for their effectiveness. Ukrainian officials say these strikes are intended to make the Russian public feel the consequences of the war and push Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace settlement.
“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine's realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X.
Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, as well as over annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas. This was the second-largest drone attack since January 2025, according to an Associated Press tally.
More than 600 drones were directed toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, without providing further details. Officials reported no deaths and no major damage from the drone assault.
In the Moscow region, three people were wounded, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said. In the adjacent Ryazan region, three others were wounded and three private houses were damaged, Governor Pavel Malkov said.
The overnight attack also caused a fire at a warehouse of Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in an industrial zone. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Wildberries depots, claiming they help supply the Russian military. The company said its facility sustained “insignificant damage.”
Coverage of the drone attack in Russian state and Kremlin-backed media was largely muted, as is common in such cases. Russia's main television channels, state-run Russia 1 and Channel One, did not mention the attack in their morning broadcasts. However, state news agency RIA Novosti featured it on its homepage, describing it as “one of the most large-scale attacks on Moscow since the beginning of the summer.” The state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta highlighted Governor Vorobyov's account of the “massive” attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the Russian missile strike on Pechenihy as “a brutal attack” and vowed a response. “We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” he said.
