Russia’s defence ministry said its anti-aircraft units had intercepted and destroyed 339 Ukrainian drones over a 13-hour period in various Russian regions, including Moscow.

The ministry, posting on Telegram, listed 13 regions where the interceptions took place, plus areas over the Black Sea, between 7am and 8pm local time.

Several regions in central Russia were included in the ministry’s list of affected areas, which also extended to Leningrad and Pskov regions in the northwest.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a series of announcements on Telegram outlining anti-aircraft action against drones.

An unofficial count showed that 14 had been downed throughout the day.

Russia’s civil aviation authority periodically announced the suspension of flights to different airports.

Russian news agencies said four suspension orders had been issued at different times of the day for the Black Sea city of Sochi.

Ukraine had fired hundreds of drones at Russia leaving one person dead and setting an oil depot ablaze on the final day of the country’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg, officials said.

Many of the drones targeted Saint Petersburg itself, the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week, although authorities reported no major damage.

Moscow and Kyiv have intensified drone strikes on each other in recent months as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fifth year, remain stalled over the conflict in the Middle East.

The strikes came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a meeting, drawing criticism from Mr Zelensky, who accused him of “choosing war again”.

Russian air defences intercepted drones “over Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Leningrad, Novgorod, Oryol, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, and Tula regions, Moscow region, Crimea Republic, Abkhazia Republic, and over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas,” the Russian defence ministry said.

It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting. That is why Ukrainian sanctions against this aggression are working. Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region – to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base… pic.twitter.com/IkdN8UE3QD

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 6, 2026

Over 140 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, which surrounds Saint Petersburg, governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.

The city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, issued a rare call for residents to stay indoors during the attack.

“Russian air defences prevented any damage. The condition of the three injured is assessed as minor and they have been discharged,” he said.

The attacks sparked a fire at an oil depot in the southern town of Ust-Labinsk, while drone debris killed a man in the western Tver region, according to local officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speeches during the plenary of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum SPIEF'26 on June 5, 2026 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the annual business forum on Friday. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
Vladimir Putin’s Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum continued as the city’s governor asked residents to stay indoors due to Ukrainian drone attacks

Mr Zelensky described the strikes as a “just response” to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting. That is why Ukrainian sanctions against this aggression are working,” he said on X.

“Any manifestation of injustice against Ukraine will receive a just response.”

‘Choosing war again’

The attacks come a day after Mr Putin rejected a meeting with Mr Zelensky.

Speaking at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) – an event dubbed “Russia’s Davos” – Mr Putin said he saw “no point” in meeting the Ukrainian leader until a possible peace deal had been agreed.

Mr Zelensky hit back, saying the Russian leader was “weak” and “choosing war again”.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiga heaped further criticism on the Russian leader.

“Putin lost his chance to get out of his failed war,” he said.

“Russia will still have to accept a diplomatic solution but the terms will be far worse.”

Hundreds of thousands have been killed since Mr Putin launched his full-scale offensive – which he calls a “special military operation” – in February 2022.

Swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine have been destroyed and millions forced from their homes in the four-year campaign Moscow hoped would have toppled Kyiv within a matter of days.

A fire engine is outside a distribution center in the village of Slobozhanske in the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine.
A fire engine outside a distribution center in the village of Slobozhanske in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine

Russia renewed its strikes on Ukraine early this morning.

In southern Ukraine, authorities found the bodies of two men who had been unaccounted for following an attack on Zaporizhzhia, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.

Russian drone and artillery attacks in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and left three others wounded, regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha wrote on Telegram.