three types – Ukraine said it carried out its biggest attack yet on Moscow’s defenses by using three locally produced drone types—FP-1 Firepoint, RS-1 Bars, and the newly named Bars-SM Gladiator—aiming at facilities about 18 and 30 miles from central Moscow. Moscow’s mayor
Moscow woke to another round of alarms Sunday night as Ukraine described a large. carefully assembled drone strike aimed at pushing through one of the capital’s most layered air-defense setups.. Ukraine’s General Staff said three different types of locally produced drones were used in the assault on the Moscow region. calling it its biggest attack so far on a heavily defended capital.
In a statement on Sunday. Ukraine’s General Staff said its units carried out strikes on May 16 and during the night of May 17. 2026. hitting “a number of key Russian military targets.” It named the FP-1 Firepoint and RS-1 Bars winged drones. and also described a third. previously unknown type—called the Bars-SM Gladiator—used during the same attack.
The account comes as Russia and Ukraine trade accusations of rising drone intensity across both home and battlefield areas.. Ukraine said the broader barrage this weekend—paired with the Moscow-region strike—was part of strikes “across the country. ” with Russian authorities saying at least four people were killed. including three in the Moscow region.
Moscow’s response, delivered by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, framed the scale in plain terms. He said the “massive attack” involved over 120 drones, and called it the highest number ever reported in the urban region for a single day.
The most detailed targets mentioned were both close to the capital but not in the city center. Ukraine’s General Staff said among the targets hit was a microchip facility about 18 miles from central Moscow and a major oil pumping station about 30 miles from central Moscow.
The drone arsenal, as laid out by Ukraine, mixes what is known publicly with what is not.. Of the three weapons named, the Bars-SM Gladiator drew the least public attention beforehand.. Ukraine’s General Staff and its defense ministry did not answer requests for comment sent outside regular business hours about the weekend’s attacks or the three drone types.
Still, the name itself points to a possible relationship. Ukraine’s General Staff said the Bars-SM Gladiator’s name could indicate a connection to the RS-1 Bars. That RS-1 drone was unveiled in spring 2025 as a hybrid between a cruise missile and a jet-powered uncrewed aerial system.
Ukraine’s description of the RS-1 Bars emphasizes manufacturing and distance.. It said the RS-1 Bars is designed to be mass-produced and able to hit targets up to 500 miles away with about 100 to 200 pounds of explosives.. Ukraine has not revealed who makes the RS-1 Bars. but it has said the winged drone was developed by private manufacturers.
More details are available publicly for the FP-1 Firepoint. Ukraine’s General Staff said it was produced in late 2024 for deep-strike missions of over 900 miles. The drone is fixed-wing and shaped like a small plane, designed by local firm Fire Point to carry up to roughly 260 pounds of explosives.
The Fire Point model also depends on how it launches.. Ukraine’s description says the turbojet drone is made to be launched easily without a runway. taking off with a rocket booster from a rail platform.. It also says Fire Point produces long-range drones—FP-1 and FP-2—and a long-range missile called the Flamingo. which Ukraine has touted as one of its main weapons for deep strikes into Russia.
Ukraine’s account of how these systems fit the geography around Moscow is straightforward: the declared range of both drones is beyond the roughly 300 miles distance from Ukraine to Moscow.
A strike large enough to matter against Moscow. Ukraine said through its own statements. would need to contend with a multilayer air defense network.. The capital’s defense system. Ukraine’s General Staff described in its narrative of obstacles. includes two rings of S-300 and S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile batteries.. Moscow also fields electronic warfare systems and point-defense defenses such as Pantsir and Tor.
Zelenskyy added his own assessment as the strike unfolded. He said in a message on Sunday that “The concentration of Russian air defense systems in the Moscow region is the largest. But we are overcoming it.”
Open-source intelligence analysts previously described the defenses in visual terms as Russia prepared for its high-profile Victory Day parade earlier this month, noting satellite images showed over 100 such defenses spread across a 70-mile radius from the heart of Moscow.
Some of the most immediate public reactions inside Russia came in the form of video clips showing fires and activity around key facilities.. Several popular Russian Telegram news channels uploaded footage that appeared to corroborate the General Staff’s claims.. One widely shared clip published by the channel ASTRA showed a major fire at the Elma Technopark in Zelenograd. a Moscow district home to the Angstrom semiconductor plant. described as building key electronics for precision-guided weapons.
Another clip showed a massive fire at the Solnechnogorskaya pumping station, later extinguished by emergency crews. Separate posts also placed fires near Sheremetyevo International Airport, and included clips of winged drones flying over the capital.
The attack also landed inside a wider pattern of escalation described by both sides.. Ukraine said it carried out strikes “across Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories. including Crimea. ” and it said its weekend actions came several days after Russia launched one of its most intense and longest drone attacks of the war so far—sending over 1. 500 drones at Ukrainian cities in a span of two days.. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would respond in kind.
Russia’s defense ministry offered a counter figure for its own defenses during the wider fighting. It said on Sunday it shot down 1,054 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones across the country.
The story’s moving pieces tie together in one clear sequence based on what each side chose to emphasize: Ukraine pinned the Moscow strike to specific weapon types—FP-1 Firepoint. RS-1 Bars. and Bars-SM Gladiator—then tied the effort to particular targets near the capital. while Moscow’s mayor put the day’s scale at over 120 drones and Russia’s defense ministry countered with a national downing total of 1. 054 fixed-wing drones.
Ukraine drones Moscow air defenses FP-1 Firepoint RS-1 Bars Bars-SM Gladiator Sergei Sobyanin Volodymyr Zelenskyy microchip facility oil pumping station