Drones hit Russian cities as Moscow reports week of strikes on Ukraine

Ukrainian drones targeted multiple Russian regions on Friday, Russia's national holiday, triggering air defense responses and causing damage and casualties in several areas. Meanwhile, Moscow reported a week of strikes against Ukrainian military targets, underscoring the continuing exchange of attacks between the two sides.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Russian air defense systems shot down 16 drones approaching the capital since midnight. "Emergency services are working at the sites where drone debris fell," he noted.

In Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, authorities reported a larger-scale attack on Friday morning targeting the Zakamye area. Head of the republic Rustam Minnikhanov said one drone struck a residential building while another hit an industrial facility.

Tatarstan Health Minister Almir Abashev confirmed that four people injured in the residential strike were hospitalized.

In the Belgorod region, acting governor Alexander Shuvayev said Ukrainian forces carried out 72 attacks over the past 24 hours, killing one woman and injuring 16 people. He added that two of the injured were children, with 11 civilians still receiving inpatient treatment.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 231 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight across multiple regions and over the Sea of Azov.

The ministry also reported continued Russian retaliatory operations, saying its forces carried out seven strikes over the past week against Ukrainian military infrastructure.

Between June 6 and June 12, it said two "massive" and five "group" strikes were conducted using high-precision weapons and drones, targeting fuel and energy facilities, transport and port infrastructure, military airfields, ammunition depots and sites used for assembling and launching long-range drones and unmanned boats, as well as temporary deployment locations for Ukrainian troops and foreign fighters.

It further claimed that Russian air defense systems shot down 74 guided aerial bombs, 11 US-made HIMARS rockets, four "Flamingo" ground-launched cruise missiles, three Neptune long-range missiles and 4,776 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the same period.

Separately, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had signed a decree implementing a new round of sanctions approved by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. The measures target 29 individuals and 17 Russian media organizations, with full details and enforcement mechanisms expected to be published by relevant Ukrainian authorities.