President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian drones attacked a number of facilities in the Moscow region of the Russian Federation on the night of May 17. He said that this was “our completely fair response to Russia's protracted war and strikes on our cities and communities.”
He wrote about this in Telegram on May 17.
According to him, during this attack, Ukrainian drones covered a distance of more than 500 kilometers from the state border.
“This time, Ukrainian long-range sanctions have reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war. Ukrainian drone and missile manufacturers continue their work. Grateful to the SBU and all the Defense Forces of Ukraine for their accuracy… The concentration of Russian air defense in the Moscow region is the largest. But we are overcoming it,” the president wrote.
As a reminder, on the morning of May 17, local residents reported on Russian Telegram channels about a drone attack in several cities of the Moscow region. According to preliminary information, the sanctioned semiconductor plant of JSC Angstrem and the Elma technopark in Zelenograd, the Sonechnogorsk oil filling station, and the Sheremetyevo airport were hit.
The residential sector has also been hit by drones, in particular, drones have been recorded hitting residential high-rise buildings in Khimki, Zelenograd, and Moscow.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 12 people were injured and the passageway of the Moscow Oil Refinery (MRPZ) was damaged as a result of drone strikes. At the same time, according to Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, there were deaths and injuries in the region as a result of the attacks, and damage to residential buildings was recorded.
In general, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that on the night of May 17, Russian air defense allegedly shot down 556 Ukrainian drones over the territories of Belgorod, Kaluga, Kursk, Orel, Bryansk, Voronezh, Tula, Smolensk, Pskov, Lipetsk, Tver, Rostov regions, Krasnodar Territory, Moscow Region, as well as temporarily occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black and Azov Seas.