The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia has seen a significant escalation in Ukraine's use of drone technology, with Moscow claiming that Kyiv has targeted the city with drones every day of 2026 so far. This marks a shift from earlier, more sporadic attacks on the Russian capital. On Sunday alone, Russian air defense systems destroyed 57 drones over the Moscow region, out of 437 downed over Russia, according to the Russian defense ministry. While Ukraine has not yet commented, it is known that Kyiv has increasingly utilized long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. These attacks are said to aim at disrupting military logistics and energy infrastructure, raising costs for Moscow's war effort, and responding to repeated Russian missile and drone attacks in the war that began nearly four years ago. The impact of these drone strikes has been significant, with three out of four of Moscow's airports shutting down to air traffic on Sunday due to Ukraine's launch of dozens of drones. This led to multiple flight delays, including at Vnukovo, Moscow's second-busiest airport. The disruption occurred during Russia's extended New Year and Orthodox Christmas break, a period of high travel and tourism activity in the country. The human toll of these attacks has also been severe, with two people killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russian border regions. Belgorod's governor reported one death and two injuries, including a young child, when a Ukrainian drone struck a car. Another person was killed in a drone strike on a village in the Kursk region. In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes overnight into Sunday, according to the country's state emergency service. The death toll from a Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on Friday increased to five when body parts were found under the rubble of a building, as confirmed by Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov. Additionally, a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in an industrial zone in the town of Yelets in Russia's Lipetsk region, but there were no casualties reported. Yelets is home to the Energiya battery plant, a major producer of batteries and accumulators for Russia's defense industry, which Ukraine has previously targeted.
