The Moscow region is hit by a drone blitz as Russian missiles kill 10 in
a Ukrainian village
[August 19, 2026]
By HANNA ARHIROVA and BARRY HATTON
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces launched one of their biggest
drone attacks on Russia since Moscow’s invasion over four years ago,
firing almost 800 drones only two days after a similar salvo, officials
said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike on a village in northeastern
Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed at least 10 people and wounded 17 others
as the barrage demolished homes, officials said.
The countries are locked in an escalating duel of long-range aerial
strikes. Fighting on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line
in eastern and southern Ukraine is restricted by large numbers of drones
and ground robots threatening troop movements, and neither side is
making significant battlefield progress, analysts say.
Putin resists pressure for peace talks
In the past year, Ukraine has devised and deployed domestically produced
long-range drones for strikes deep inside Russia. Its drone technology
has impressed governments and defense manufacturers around the world.
Officials in Kyiv aim to make the Russian public feel the war’s
consequences and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into
negotiating a peace settlement. Putin has so far shown no sign he
intends to stop the invasion.
“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s
realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
Russian air defenses overnight intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones over a
number of regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the Black and the Azov
seas, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said, in what was the
second-largest drone attack since January 2025, according to an
Associated Press tally.
More than 600 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region, where 180
were shot down, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said without elaborating.
Officials reported no deaths or major damage. Ukraine has increasingly
launched swarms of hundreds of drones to try to overwhelm Russian air
defenses.
In the region that surrounds the capital, three people were wounded,
Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.
Three people were also wounded in the adjacent Ryazan region where three
private houses were damaged, Gov. Pavel Malkov said.
The overnight attack started a fire at a warehouse of Wildberries,
Russia’s biggest online retailer, in an industrial zone. Ukraine has
repeatedly targeted the company, which it says helps supply the Russian
military, an allegation Moscow denies.
Wildberries said its facility sustained “insignificant damage.”
Russian TV doesn't report news of the attack
Coverage of the attack in state and Kremlin-backed Russian media was
mostly muted, as is often the case. Russia’s main TV channels —
state-run Russia 1 and Channel One — did not mention the attack at all
in their morning news bulletins.
[to top of second column]
|
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, fire is
seen on the site of a Russian air attack in Pechenihy, Kharkiv
region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency
Service via AP)
But Russian state news agency RIA Novosti featured it among the main
news on its website’s homepage, describing it as “one of the most
large-scale attacks on Moscow since the beginning of the summer.”
State newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on its website prominently featured a
roundup of what Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov reported about the
attack, describing it as “massive” in the headline. Pro-Kremlin tabloid
MK featured a news brief about it on its home page.
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of a ‘brutal attack’ on civilians
A Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine’s
Kharkiv region killed 10 civilians, according to preliminary
information, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military
administration.
Another 17 people were wounded, he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy called it “a brutal attack” that damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a
post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, according to
Syniehubov.
“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” he said on social
media.
Also, three people were killed and three others were wounded over the
past day in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy region, Ukraine’s National
Police said.
UK vows continued Ukraine support
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office last month, said
the U.K. will continue to stand by Ukraine after Russia said that Kyiv’s
reported use of British drones for attacks on Russian soil would bring
unidentified consequences.
“We are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself, and that’s
been the British position all the way through this conflict by previous
prime ministers," Burnham said. “It remains the case with me.”
British newspaper The Sunday Times reported that two U.K. companies made
drones used by Ukraine to hit Russia.
Following the report, the Russian Embassy in the U.K. said in a
statement that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian state TV that Moscow
has the right to view British involvement in strikes on Russian
territory as “participation in the war, with all the ensuing
consequences.”
___
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Brian Melley in London
contributed.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
