Mass Ukrainian drone barrage kills four in Russia

KYIV, Ukraine, May 17 (AFP): A wave of almost 600 Ukrainian drones attacked Russia overnight killing four people, authorities said on Sunday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the barrage an "entirely justified" retribution for Moscow's own pummelling of Ukraine.
Air defences shot down 556 drones overnight across the country, Russia's defence ministry said, with another 30 drones intercepted after dawn in one of the largest Ukrainian barrages of the ongoing conflict so far.
These interceptions-far above the few dozen more often reported-took place across 14 Russian regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine and the Black and Azov seas, the ministry added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's attack on Russia-days after a massive drone and missile bombardment of the Ukrainian capital killed at least 24 people-was "entirely justified".
"Our responses to Russia's prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified. This time, Ukrainian long-range sanctions reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war."
Ukraine's defence ministry said that Moscow and the region "have experienced the largest-scale attack since the full-scale invasion began" in February 2022.
In Russia's capital region, "a woman was killed as a result of a UAV hitting a private house," governor Andrey Vorobyov posted on Telegram, adding that the early morning attack also claimed the lives of two men.
He added that four people were wounded and infrastructure facilities had been targeted.
Within the capital, local authorities reported that air defence systems had intercepted more than 80 drones overnight, wounding 12 people.
One of the strikes wounded construction workers at a job site near an oil and gas refinery, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
"Refinery production has not been disrupted. Three residential buildings were damaged," he added.
While the capital region is often subjected to drone attacks, the city of Moscow, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border, is less frequently targeted.