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This is Svetlana Bronnikova from the independent media outlet 7x7.

On May 17, Moscow and the Moscow Region came under the largest Ukrainian drone attack in more than a year. The targets included Angstrem, a Zelenograd-based manufacturer of semiconductors used by Russia’s military, the Moscow Oil Refinery, and the Solnechnogorskaya and Volodarskoye oil pumping stations.

The UAVs also damaged a house in Khimki, a house in Krasnogorsk, and a high-rise building in Moscow itself. Seventeen people were injured and three were killed.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 

Russian TV Channels Largely Ignored the Attack on Moscow

Russians living in border regions such as Belgorod and Kursk have been under the threat of drone attacks since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In April 2026, a drone reached the Urals and struck the Trinity high-rise complex in Yekaterinburg. Until then, many local residents had considered the region relatively safe, given that Yekaterinburg lies some 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. At the same time, regional authorities and security services have been restricting mobile internet access since the summer of 2025, citing security concerns. In October 2025, several factories evacuated employees because of drone threats.

The first recorded drone strike on Moscow took place on the night of May 3, 2023, when two UAVs targeted the Kremlin. According to officials, the drones were disabled by electronic warfare systems and exploded above the Senate Palace, causing no casualties. Russian authorities, however, did not publicly report the attack until roughly twelve hours later.

Moscow came under another drone attack later that month. Some UAVs were intercepted before reaching their targets, but at least three damaged residential buildings in the city. Another attack followed in the summer of 2023, when drones struck Moscow City, the capital’s prestigious business district.

Russian television channels provide little coverage of strikes on Russian regions, and the attack on Moscow was no exception. As Meduza noted, Channel One, Russia-1, and NTV mentioned the deaths in Moscow and the Moscow Region only in their Sunday morning broadcasts, which aired several hours after the attack. Anchors briefly summarized the incident against a backdrop of photographs showing drone-damaged residential buildings. The main topic of all Sunday evening news programs was the successful test of the Sarmat missile, which Vladimir Putin had announced several days earlier.

How Russians Responded to the Strike on Moscow

Residents of Moscow and the Moscow Region began sharing their experiences of the attack on social media, but many were met with mockery and criticism from Russians in other regions. Some Muscovites said they were hurt by the reactions and wrote about it online.

“Dear people from the regions, have you completely lost your minds? <…> Since this morning, I’ve seen tons of videos of locals filming the drones,” blogger Irina said in an Instagram video. “Then I opened the comments and was horrified to see so many commenters from outside Moscow celebrating the fact that drones had finally struck the center. <…> Guys, what is this, some kind of fifth-grade dick-measuring contest? People are openly gloating and seem thrilled that fellow Russians have come under attack. Are you idiots?! Go get help.”

Irina immediately received responses from other Instagram users:

• “You're the idiot here if you don't understand why people in the border regions are saying this.”
• “For a while, you were proudly saying, ‘Moscow isn't Russia.’”
• “Young lady, I think you're the one who's lost her mind. You're making sweeping generalizations and then acting surprised when others do the same.”
• “You and I are not the same people, unfortunately. Belgorod, Kursk, and southern Russia come under attack EVERY SINGLE DAY, often more than once a day. People are simply exhausted. We aren't celebrating or gloating. We're just fed up with this injustice. Why are ordinary civilians suffering? People in Moscow and the Moscow Region get to live their lives and enjoy themselves. What makes us any worse than them?”
• “First of all, we haven't lost our minds, and we're not idiots. Belgorod isn't just some random region. We’ve been carrying the burden of this war on our shoulders from the very beginning. <…> If it weren't for our guys, you'd be losing your shit in Moscow by now. <…> At the exact same time as the Crocus tragedy, our city came under a horrific attack that killed civilians, including children. But nobody talked about it on television, because Belgorod no longer matters to the country, especially not to people like you. Our border areas are being shelled, our homes are being entered, and many have been living in temporary shelters for four years. Does anyone ever talk about that? So yes, we're tired of sympathizing with everyone else, because nobody sympathizes with us. Nobody gives a shit about us or about Belgorod.”

There are several reasons why many people in Russia’s regions feel little sympathy for Muscovites. One factor is the longstanding inequality that predates the war in Ukraine. For years, many Russians have felt that Moscow enjoys a much higher standard of living than the rest of the country, with higher salaries, better infrastructure, and more opportunities. Many regional residents also believe that federal media outlets and the authorities pay less attention to their problems than to events in Moscow.

“People living in Moscow and the Moscow Region thought they were living in a bubble. They believed the war didn't concern them, and that if they ignored it and didn't get all worked up about it, it would never affect them. And then came the rude awakening... absolutely outrageous, isn't it?” wrote an X user going by the name Goot Huytr.