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Today, there is interesting news from the Russian Federation.
Here, Russia was clearly outplayed and witnessed the most successful and devastating Ukrainian strike against its capital city. This was a direct result of Ukraine misleading Russian commanders, as Russians defended the wrong targets, leaving the main prize almost completely undefended.
Over two days and two nights, swarms of long-range FP-One and jet-powered Bars drones crossed into the Moscow region. These drones were specifically optimized for high speed and low-altitude penetration, allowing them to bypass radar coverage and complicate interception efforts. Ukraine even debuted an improved version of the Bars drone, built with radar-absorbing composite materials and a heavier warhead to deal more damage. Russian air defenses suddenly faced a nightmare scenario, defending not isolated targets but dozens of potential approach vectors simultaneously as waves of over one thousand three hundred drones forced them to split radar coverage, sparse interceptor missile reserves, and what was left of the electronic warfare assets across an enormous area.
Going back in time a bit, as you know, the Kremlin turned Moscow into a fortress with over one hundred thirty various air defense systems in preparation for its victory day parade. Additionally, a deal was made to trade one thousand prisoners of war in exchange for Ukraine not striking Moscow during that day, with Zelensky saying that the lives of these Ukrainian prisoners were more important to him than hitting Moscow and permitting Russia to hold their scaled-down parade. Ukrainian officials added fuel to the fire, saying that if all air defenses are concentrated in Moscow, then they will just strike everywhere else, which Ukrainians demonstratively did.
The critical Russian mistake came immediately after the parade, as Russian commanders hurriedly redistributed many of the concentrated air defense systems outward again to cover the rest of the country. However, as Ukrainians had now effectively lured the majority of Moscow’s defenses away from the capital, Ukraine launched its biggest and most sophisticated strike yet, directly toward the seat of the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian strikes were not random attacks aimed at creating panic around Moscow, but precisely focused on critical military-industrial and energy infrastructure supporting Russia’s war effort. One of the most important targets was the Angstrem microelectronics plant in Zelenograd, a strategically important facility as one of the only ones producing semiconductor components used in Kinzhal and Kaliber cruise missiles. Fires and visible damage were reported at the site after the strikes, highlighting how Ukrainian drones are now capable of threatening deeply protected military-industrial infrastructure close to the Russian capital itself.
At the same time, Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow’s energy network, striking the Moscow Oil Refinery alongside the Solnechnogorskaya and Volodarskoye oil pumping stations, the Transneft facility in Zelonograd, all being key nodes in the fuel distribution system supplying civilian and military logistics around central Russia. Geolocated footage showed fires erupting at infrastructure facilities while emergency crews attempted to contain the damage and restore operations. Footage also emerged from the Sheremetevo airport, with Ukrainian drone debris visibly burning on the runway, causing another delay of hundreds of flights from one of Moscow’s main airports.
The psychological impact was equally severe because, for ordinary Russians living in Moscow, the war suddenly became real in a way many had never experienced before. Social media quickly filled with videos of frightened residents filming drones and explosions from apartment windows, their voices shaking as air defense systems thundered overhead and bursts of gunfire echoed across the sky. Some openly complained in panic that Moscow was no longer safe, while others questioned how Ukrainian drones could still penetrate the capital despite the massive concentration of air defenses around it. For years, residents of Moscow had largely been shielded from the realities of Putin’s war, unlike Russian border regions and especially unlike Ukraine, which has endured nightly missile and drone attacks for years.
Overall, the latest attack on Moscow proved how Ukraine managed to outplay Russia not once but twice. First, it forced Moscow to gather huge concentrations of air defenses around the capital, leaving the rest of Russia exposed to devastating strikes. Then, once Russian commanders redistributed those systems outward again, Ukraine launched one of the largest strike waves Moscow had ever seen, causing panic inside…
