Ukraine Strikes Millerovo Airfield as Moscow Says It Shot Down 59 Drones

Ukraine's military said on Thursday that it had struck the Millerovo airfield in Russia's southern Rostov region using drones, causing explosions and a fire at the site. The General Staff described the facility as one used by Russian forces to launch airstrikes into Ukrainian territory. Kyiv framed the operation as a targeted strike on military infrastructure. Russia's Defense Ministry, responding to what it described as a barrage of Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, said air defenses shot down 59 drones overnight. The ministry listed the distribution of intercepted drones as 45 over the Rostov region, eight over Kursk, three over Belgorod, two over Bryansk and one over the Moscow region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses had intercepted a drone heading toward the capital and that there were no casualties or damage reported in the city. Independent on-the-ground or satellite verification of damage at Millerovo was not immediately available. In recent months both Kyiv and Moscow have increasingly relied on long-range strike capabilities, including drones, to attack military and energy targets deep inside each other’s territory. Ukraine has prioritized developing and deploying longer-range attack drones to hit bases and logistics nodes inside Russia, while Russia has used a mix of domestically produced systems and Iranian-supplied drones to strike Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. Analysts say strikes on airfields and other forward-operating bases can have immediate tactical value by disrupting sortie generation and degrading maintenance and logistics, and they can also serve a psychological and political purpose. At the same time, sustained use of long-range drones places heavy demands on air-defense systems. Moscow’s claim of shooting down dozens of drones in a single night, if accurate, underscores both the intensity of recent strikes and the pressure on Russian air defenses along the border. The incident illustrates the continuing evolution and escalation of unmanned warfare in the conflict that began with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Both sides are refining their drone tactics and expanding range, heightening the risk of miscalculation and collateral damage. Observers say independent verification and transparent reporting remain essential for understanding the operational impact of individual strikes and for assessing risks to civilian populations in contested border regions.