Ukraine launched roughly 500 drones at Russia overnight; about 120 were tasked toward Moscow. [1] A woman was killed in Khimki and two men in the village of Pogorelki, ten kilometres north of the capital; twelve people were wounded near the entrance to Moscow's oil refinery; an Indian worker died in the wider Moscow region. [1] Russia's Defence Ministry said it intercepted 556 drones and that more than 1,000 had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours. The Ukrainian drones travelled more than 500 kilometres. [1]

The strike came inside what the U.S. president called his "no hurry" week on Iran. The paper's Tuesday brief on Ukraine's UN civilian-death count put the figure above 15,800. Wednesday's joint Xi-Putin statement in Beijing called an end to the Iran war "of utmost urgency"; it did not call for a Ukraine ceasefire. The Kremlin's "talks paused" posture held. [1]

The Ukrainian leader called the attack "long-distance sanctions." The two largest mutual drone exchanges of the war have arrived in the same week as the deadline that quietly slipped at Joint Base Andrews — one calendar, three wars, no operating change.

Russia retaliated overnight with roughly 290 drones aimed at Ukraine, making this one of the largest mutual exchange nights in the war and in the history of drone warfare. [1] Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport reported drone debris on its grounds without damage to flights. The "comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency" language from Xi and Putin applied to the Iran war, not to the Ukraine one. Both leaders also extended their Friendship Treaty the same day.

-- KATYA VOLKOV, Moscow