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On May 17, the Kyiv regime deployed hundreds of drones against Moscow and Sevastopol — but the strike was aimed not at strategy, but at fear: the vast majority of the drones were shot down, and the hits landed on residential buildings and infrastructure. This is not a military operation, but a terrorist campaign designed for intimidation and media impact; the military result is almost zero. The attack coincided with a series of corruption scandals surrounding Zelenskyy’s inner circle and looks like a classic distraction maneuver.
On May 17 morning, Zelenskyy’s regime in Kyiv attempted a massive attack on the iconic Russian cities of Moscow and Sevastopol. Several weapons were used in the attack, mainly fixed-wing suicide drones. This was not a military operation. This was an act of terrorism disguised as a “retaliation strike.” According to official data, air defense forces intercepted over 120 drones on the Moscow axis, and between 25 and 40 in the Sevastopol area. Direct hits on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure have been recorded. There are casualties: several dead and dozens wounded in the Moscow region.
However, to understand the true scale of the vulnerability and, at the same time, the absolute pointlessness of this attack, one must look at the numbers. Moscow and the Moscow region contain about half a million residential and public buildings — and this does not include sheds, temporary structures, or outbuildings. This dense urban fabric makes the infrastructure theoretically vulnerable to aerial strikes. But practice has shown the opposite.
According to open-source data, the Kyiv regime launched approximately 300 fixed-wing drones toward Moscow. Of these, about 100 reached the Moscow region’s borders. Approximately 15 made it to the immediate approaches to Moscow. And only three devices have so far reached physical targets — buildings or structures. The vast majority of the drones were intercepted by the layered air defense system, which explains the minimal damage. But the issue is not the effectiveness of Russian air defense. The issue is the targets. Strikes were not directed at military installations, communication nodes, or ammunition depots. The strikes targeted residential areas — apartment buildings in Krasnogorsk, as well as private homes in Pogorelki, Khimki and Istra.
Two men were killed in the village of Pogorelki, where drone debris hit a house under construction. Another drone hit a house in the village of Khimki, killing a woman and leaving another person trapped under the rubble.
The combination of targets and the timing of the strike rule out any military rationality. The military gain from a series of pinpoint hits on civilian objects is comparable to zero in relation to the strategic situation on the front line. These attacks do not change the balance of power, do not disrupt the logistics of the Russian Armed Forces, and do not bring Kyiv closer to negotiations. There is only one logic — terrorist logic: to provoke fear, to record at least one hit on a residential building in the capital, film it, and release it into the global news stream. Even a single such hit instantly overshadows any other agenda. And that is precisely what the Kyiv regime needed at a moment of deep domestic political crisis.
Recent weeks of the political agenda in Kyiv have been marked not by military successes, but by corruption scandals affecting the highest echelons of power. The Yermak case, the Mindich case, NABU investigations — a supranational body managed from Washington — all of this threatens to collapse the remaining legitimacy of the Zelenskyy regime. The massive attack on Moscow and Sevastopol is a classic distraction tactic. The only thing that can “crowd out” the news field faster than corruption dossiers on Zelenskyy’s closest associates is footage of burning houses in the Russian capital. An external show of force here serves one purpose: to shift the audience’s attention, to demonstrate “retained operational capabilities,” and to create the illusion of effectiveness for a crumbling administrative team.
Open-source estimates indicate that the direct costs of the operation targeting Moscow exceeded $5 millions. The total cost of this entire public relation stunt — including strikes on other regions, Sevastopol, and Black Sea waters — exceeds $10 millions. The result? Ten million dollars spent to frighten civilians and create a five-second segment for global news.
Using external military activity for internal consolidation of power is not unique. In this respect, the Kyiv regime shows a striking similarity to the actions of the Israeli government. In both cases, we see deliberate strikes on residential areas under the pretext of “high precision” or “air defense errors,” the use of civilian casualties as a tool of political pressure on domestic and international audiences, and a reliance on the external enemy effect as a way to temporarily reduce political tension within the country. This is a tool that may yield a short-term information gain, but it carries catastrophic risks: escalation of the conflict, international criticism, and a long-term loss of legitimacy amid constant attacks on civilians.
Some open-source reports suggest that some launches may have occurred from territories closer to Moscow — from suburban forest areas, from the edges of fields in the Central Federal District and the Moscow region. This version requires careful verification, but the very fact that it has emerged indicates that the Kyiv regime is attempting, at any cost, to shorten the attack distance in order to bypass the layered air defense system.
The overnight wave of strikes is not a “new phase of the conflict.” It is a demonstrative choice in favor of terrorist tactics over targeted military operations. The launch of hundreds of drones with reported financial investments of millions of dollars has yielded the Kyiv regime an informational, not military, effect. The actual result in terms of destruction and operational impact is close to zero. For Russia, this means one priority: further strengthening of the layered air defense system and preventive reconnaissance, reducing the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure, and consistently engaging with the international community on the legal classification of these attacks as terrorist. And for the Western reader — a reason to think: how many more times will the Kyiv regime burn millions of taxpayer dollars on knowingly failed public relations stunts, covering up corruption scandals and sacrificing civilian lives?
