By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Russia and Ukraine unleashed one of the fiercest exchanges of drone and missile attacks of the year on Sunday, with hundreds of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and other Russian regions while Russian forces launched deadly strikes across Ukraine.
At least 11 people were reported killed in the two-way attacks and dozens injured.
Ukraine mounted what Russian authorities described as one of the largest aerial assaults since the beginning of the war. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted 822 Ukrainian drones across the country, including hundreds aimed at the Moscow region. Ukrainian officials have not publicly confirmed the full scale of the operation.
The massive drone offensive caused casualties and damage in several Russian regions. At least six people were reported killed, including five in the Rostov region and an 83-year-old man in the Moscow region. A drone strike also triggered a major fire at a warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries near Moscow.
The Moscow region came under particularly heavy attack, with authorities reporting that at least 201 drones were intercepted in and around the capital. The strikes disrupted flights at several airports and sent plumes of smoke into the sky over parts of the Moscow region.
Russia responded with a fresh wave of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said at least five people were killed in attacks on Kryvyi Rih, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, while at least 14 others were wounded. Russian missiles also struck industrial and infrastructure targets, including Ukraine’s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal, while explosions and fires were reported in Kyiv.
In Kyiv, a fire broke out at a book market following the strikes, injuring six people. Russian attacks were also reported in several other parts of Ukraine, adding to mounting civilian casualties after weeks of intensified aerial warfare.
The latest escalation comes as both sides increasingly rely on long-range drones and missiles to strike targets far from the front line. Ukraine has expanded its drone campaign against Russian military and economic infrastructure, while Russia continues to launch large-scale missile and drone barrages against Ukrainian cities and industrial facilities.
The scale of Sunday’s attacks underscores the growing intensity of the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old war, despite continuing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
The United Nations has already warned of a sharp deterioration in the security situation for Ukrainian civilians. July was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine since the early months of the full-scale war, with at least 437 civilians killed and more than 2,600 wounded, according to UN figures.
The latest attacks also raised concerns about the possibility of the conflict spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders. A drone entered Romanian airspace during the latest wave of attacks and was shot down by a Spanish F-18 fighter operating under NATO arrangements.
With both Moscow and Kyiv demonstrating an increased capacity to strike deep inside each other’s territory, Sunday’s attacks marked another major escalation in a war that shows little sign of abating.