Drone hits Moscow high-rise days before major military parade

A drone slammed into a high-rise apartment building a few miles from the Kremlin on Monday, a rare attack on Moscow that came as Ukraine has expanded its long-range strikes inside Russia.

The breach of air defenses in the Russian capital occurred five days before the annual Victory Day parade, a major event on Red Square marking the Soviet contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Last week, Russia said that the parade would be significantly downsized, in an acknowledgment of the growing threat from Ukrainian drones.

In an effort to damage Russia’s oil-dependent economy, Ukraine has conducted several strikes in recent weeks on facilities deep inside Russian territory. Russia said Sunday that Ukraine had attacked an important oil-exporting station on the Black Sea, and Ukraine said its forces had struck two ships in the Russian “shadow fleet” -- vessels that surreptitiously transport oil in violation of sanctions -- in another Black Sea port.

The drone strike on the Moscow apartment building took place in the early hours of Monday, the city’s mayor, Sergei S. Sobyanin, said in a statement. There were no casualties, he added. Russian authorities did not directly attribute the attack to Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the attack.

It was not clear whether the upscale apartment building, which soars 54 stories in a leafy, quiet neighborhood of low-rise buildings, was the intended target. The tower, the tallest in Moscow’s southwest, is about 4 miles from the city center, in an area named after Mosfilm, the Moscow film studio.

Videos and photos from the scene showed part of one floor in the tower gutted by the drone hit. The drone’s evasion of air defenses was an embarrassment for the Kremlin. In recent days, city officials have reported several interceptions of Ukrainian drones in the Moscow suburbs.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin of Russia called for a ceasefire on May 9, the day of the Victory Day parade. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine rejected the offer, saying his country would welcome a lasting ceasefire, not a day off for Russia to celebrate itself.

On Monday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that Putin had declared a ceasefire for May 8 and 9, and that it hoped Ukraine would follow suit. Zelenskyy followed up hours later by announcing a ceasefire of his own -- for May 6.

“We believe that human life is far more valuable than any anniversary ‘celebration,’” he said, adding that “it is time for Russian leaders to take real steps to end their war, especially since Russia’s Defense Ministry believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill.”

Because of the threat of Ukrainian drones, Russia will hold the parade without heavy military equipment for the first time in nearly two decades. The Kremlin also canceled the participation of students from military secondary schools.

The Russian Defense Ministry statement said that if Ukraine attacked Moscow during the parade on Saturday, it would retaliate with a “massive” missile strike on the center of Kyiv.

Putin has portrayed Russia’s war in Ukraine as an extension of the Soviet Union’s struggle in World War II, falsely asserting that the government in Kyiv has been taken over by Nazis.

In the past, the Victory Day parade has been an important foreign policy event for Russia, attracting heads of state, including President George W. Bush and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This year, Robert Fico, the Russia-friendly prime minister of Slovakia, is expected to be the main foreign dignitary.

Zelenskyy made a vague reference to the drone attack during a speech in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, on Monday. He said that Russia’s decision to scale back the May 9 parade showed its weakness.

“They cannot afford military equipment,” Zelenskyy said, “and they fear drones may buzz over Red Square.”

The Ukrainian leader was in Armenia, a traditional ally of Russia, as it hosted a summit of leaders from a grouping known as the European Political Community. While Armenia is the site of a Russian military base, the country has been moving away from Moscow after the Kremlin did not come to its aid in a 2023 conflict with Azerbaijan.

Pro-war commentators in Russia have been seething over Armenia’s decision to welcome Zelenskyy and European leaders. Oleg Tsaryov, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament who is now a pro-Kremlin blogger, asked in a post on the message service Telegram on Sunday what was stopping the 5,000 Russian troops in Armenia from arresting Zelenskyy on arrival.

At least eight people were killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine, officials said earlier on Monday. Six people died and 24 were injured in a missile strike on the town of Merefa in the eastern Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.

The victims were men and women aged between 41 and 74. Several residential buildings, high-rises and shops were damaged, and the nearby settlement of Bezliudivka was also hit by a drone, he said.

In the southern Kherson region, two men aged 71 and 72 were killed in separate artillery attacks on the villages of Shyroka Balka and Komyshany, the regional prosecutor’s office said.

Further casualties were reported in the neighboring Zaporizhzhya region, where at least two people were killed and four injured in drone strikes on the town of Vilniansk, about 22 miles from the front line.

German press agency dpa contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 12:02 PM.