Russia Downs 419 Ukrainian Drones; Baby Killed Near Moscow
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Russia's defence ministry said air defences intercepted and destroyed 419 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight on June 30, 2026, including in the Moscow region.
- Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov said a six-month-old baby died en route to hospital after a drone hit a private house in Yevgoryevsk, with two adults and another child hospitalized.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported 61 drones shot down over the capital since Monday evening.
- Ukraine launched a separate barrage of 660 drones between Thursday and Friday of the prior week, described as one of the highest single-period tallies since the conflict began.
- Ukrainian strikes last week ignited a fire at a refinery southeast of Moscow, part of Kyiv's campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure to cut off Kremlin war revenue.
- The conflict has now dragged on for almost 4.5 years since Moscow's full-scale offensive began.
Why it matters: Russia's overnight claim of 419 drones destroyed follows a 660-drone barrage days earlier and a refinery fire last week, showing that Kyiv's escalated long-range campaign is forcing Moscow to burn through air-defence munitions at an unsustainable pace — even as strikes continue to kill Russian civilians, including a six-month-old, deep inside the Moscow region.
