Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the nation, Kyiv, May 17, 2026

EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Kyiv’s Retaliation v. Russia’s Mass Killings

Sunday’s Coverage: Kyiv Launches Largest Drone Attack on Moscow

UPDATE 0653 GMT:

At least 20 civilians, including two children, have been wounded by Russian drone and missile attacks on central and southern Ukraine overnight.

Air defenses downed 503 of 524 drones but only four of 22 missiles. Sixteen drones and the other missiles hit 34 locations.

At least 18 of the casualties, including the children, were in the city of Dnipro, attacking between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. A 24-story residential building was hit, and several fires set throughout the city.

In the port city of Odesa in the south, an 11-year-old boy and a 59-year-old man were injured. A lecture hall and a kindergarten were damaged.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the changed dynamic over the Kremlin’s 51-month full-scale invasion, with Kyiv’s counter-attacks inside Russia.

On Saturday and Sunday, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on the city of Moscow, targeting 12 facilities including an oil refinery; the Moscow region; and other areas including occupied Crimea.

Ukraine’s State security service SBU highlighted strikes in the Moscow region on the Angstrom plant, which specializes in the production of hi-tech products and microcircuits for high-precision weapons, and a pumping station which is part of the ring oil pipeline around Moscow.

Within Ukraine, a Russian command post in the ​​Donetsk region and enemy drone control points in the Donetsk, ​​Kharkiv, and Kherson regions were hit.

Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation:

Our long-range capabilities are significantly changing the situation – and, more broadly, the world’s perception of Russia’s war. Many partners are now signaling that they see what is happening and how everything has changed – both in attitudes toward this war and in the reachability of Russian targets on Russian territory.

The war is quite predictably returning to its “native harbor”, and this is a clear signal that one should not pick a fight with Ukraine or wage an unjust war of conquest against another people.

He cited the Kremlin’s efforts to protect Moscow from attack, “but Ukrainian long-range steps are already overcoming this.”

He added, “Russians should be thinking about their refineries, their oil facilities and enterprises.”

The President also spoke of the frontlines, noting that there were more Ukrainian “active operations” than Russian over a 24-hour period spanning Sautrday and Sunday.

“A lot has been done this year, and the shift in the balance of actions on the battlefield is visible,” he asserted, vowing to increase supplies needed to sustain operations.