390 Drones, Three Airports, and a Meeting in Washington
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Between 8:30 p.m. Moscow time and 6:30 the following morning, Ukrainian forces launched more than 390 drones at the Moscow region in what amounts to the largest single drone assault on the Russian capital since the war began. Russian air defenses neutralized most of them, though 81 were destroyed specifically as they approached the city itself and at least one apartment building near Moscow sustained damage. Three major airports — Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Domodedovo — were disrupted, with flights diverted or delayed throughout the night.
The timing is nearly impossible to interpret as accidental. Zelensky flew to Washington hours after the attack to meet with President Trump, arriving with an unmistakable signal: Ukraine retains both the capability and the will to reach Moscow. Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the drone figures and emphasized that most were intercepted, framing the night as a defensive success — but the closure of three international airports undercuts that framing considerably.
Russia has simultaneously signaled its conditions for any resumed diplomacy. Moscow is demanding the United States explain who 'failed' the Anchorage formula — a reference to earlier peace talks this year — before it will engage with any new proposals. The demand is widely read as a stalling tactic, but it puts Washington in an awkward position heading into the Zelensky talks.
Compounding Zelensky's leverage problem, the Pentagon has told Congress that $400 million in authorized Ukraine military assistance will not be fully delivered until 2029 — three years from now and into the next presidential term. Trump has publicly blamed the Biden administration for what he calls a depleted weapons stockpile, a framing that distances him politically from the supply shortfall while doing little to resolve it. The gap between the overnight drone-strike optics and a three-year weapons delivery pipeline is, by any measure, an enormous one for Zelensky to navigate at the negotiating table.