Authorities reported the largest drone attack on Moscow since the beginning of the year. However, it is almost impossible to confirm.

March 16, 2026

Authorities reported the largest drone attack on Moscow since the beginning of the year. However, it is almost impossible to confirm.

Moscow authorities reported the largest raid of Ukrainian drones since the beginning of 2026 - air defense forces shot down about 250 drones over two days. However, this attack is practically impossible to confirm - there were no publications, photos, or videos about it in local public pages and Telegram channels. "Novaya-Europe" drew attention to this. The drone raid on Moscow lasted from March 14 to March 16. The first days of the attack were reported more actively than the last - for example, residents of Istra wrote to "360.ru Istra" about explosions on the afternoon of March 15. At the same time, on the night of March 16, when the attack continued, no new messages appeared in it. According to Telegram channels Mash and Shot, close to the security forces, drones were spotted in the Naro-Fominsky, Solnechnogorsky, Istrinsky districts, Mozhaysk, and the village of Rassudovo on the night of March 16. Local residents heard explosions in Kubinka, Podolsk, Dubna, and Domodedovo. "Novaya-Europe" studied the largest Telegram channels and public pages on "VKontakte" related to these locations. Mostly these channels are associated with local administrations. None of them had any posts or media materials related to the March 16 attack - in particular, in the largest channels of Solnechnogorsk ("News • Zelenograd • Solnechnogorsk", "Overheard Solnechnogorsk", "Overheard in Solnechnogorsk", "360.ru Solnechnogorsk"). The drone attack was also missed by channels in the Istrinsky district, Naro-Fominsk, and Mozhaysk. "ChP Dubna" wrote about the air defense operation on the evening of March 15, but subscribers mostly reported power outages in the comments. "Dubna - News" also had reports of a siren operation in the city. The rest of the city's public pages completely missed the news about the drone attack. The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ published a video (1, 2) of the attack on Moscow without specifying the exact location and time. "Novaya-Europe" found no other independent confirmation of the drone raid. According to "Agentstvo", the previous largest raid of Ukrainian drones on Moscow was on March 11, 2025, when air defense destroyed 74 drones.

Authorities reported the largest drone attack on Moscow since the beginning of the year. However, it is almost impossible to confirm.

TL;DR

Moscow authorities reported downing about 250 Ukrainian drones over two days (March 14-16), claiming it's the largest attack since the start of 2026.
"Novaya-Europe" found no publications, photos, or videos of the alleged drone attack on local public pages and Telegram channels.
While some local reports of explosions and air defense were noted for March 15, the night of March 16, the supposed continuation of the attack, saw no new public mentions.
Telegram channels close to security forces reported drone sightings in several districts, and local residents reported hearing explosions in various towns.
However, extensive checks of Telegram channels and VK public pages associated with these locations revealed a lack of content related to the March 16 drone attack.
The previous largest drone raid on Moscow, reported by "Agentstvo", occurred on March 11, 2025, with 74 drones destroyed.

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