Moscow Mayor Says 8,670 Drones Tried to Hit Capital in August

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed on Wednesday that Ukraine launched 8,670 drones against the Moscow region in August. In his Telegram update, Sobyanin said most were shot down “on the distant approaches,” with 795 downed while approaching the city of Moscow.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Sobyanin said the numbers were counted between 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 1 and 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 1. If accurate, the figure – excluding drones targeting refineries elsewhere in Russia – would be roughly on par with the 8,653 drones Russia launched against all of Ukraine in July 2026, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. According to an animation depicting the drones’ flight paths shared by Sobyanin, a huge swarm launched in the second half of August could be seen approaching the Russian capital from the eastern flank, via the neighboring Vladimir region. However, it is unclear whether the animation depicts documented flight paths or is a more illustrative representation of the drone strikes. Ukraine has ramped up strikes against Russian logistics in recent months, including those on the retail giant Wildberries, whose warehouses were struck multiple times. On Aug. 16, a major fire broke out at a Wildberries logistics complex in the Moscow region. Two days later, over 600 drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding region in one of the largest known Ukrainian strikes, again hitting a Wildberries warehouse in Moscow’s Bogorodsky district. Other Topics of Interest ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 1, 2026 War in Ukraine - Latest update, key takeaways and map from the Institute for the Study of War on September 1, 2026. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned airlines and foreign nations of heightened risks to aviation over Russian cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, as the drone war escalates between Kyiv and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin downplayed the risks and accused Kyiv of “state terrorism,” while the EU also accused Russia of the same following the discovery of explosive drones at Germany’s Leipzig airport. In mid-August, Kyiv was rumored to have developed a plan to paralyze Russian airports by sending over 1,000 low-cost drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) in a single swarm, though preparations reportedly halted after former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov left. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.