Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

On Sunday, September 20, 2026, Ukraine sent many drones to Russia. It was the biggest drone attack of the year. A drone is a small flying machine with no pilot inside.

Russia says it shot down 1,110 drones. The drones flew over 19 parts of Russia and over Crimea. Many of them flew to the Moscow area.

Ukraine says the main target was an oil factory in Moscow. The factory is in a part of the city called Kapotnya. It is one of the biggest oil factories in Russia, and it was damaged.

Three people died and twenty people were hurt. Three of the hurt people were children. The same day, people in Russia voted in an election.

drone

A small flying machine with no pilot inside it.

attack

When one side tries to hurt or break something of the other side.

target

The thing that someone wants to hit.

oil

A thick black liquid from the ground that is used to make fuel.

factory

A big building where people make things or change things.

damaged

Broken, but not completely destroyed.

hurt

Feeling pain because your body was harmed.

election

A day when people vote to choose leaders.

Level 2 — Elementary

Ukraine launched more than a thousand drones at Russia overnight into Sunday, September 20, 2026. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones across 19 Russian regions and over Crimea. That is the highest number reported this year, well above the previous high of 822 drones in August.

Hundreds of the drones were aimed at the Moscow region. Ukraine's General Staff said the main target was the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district of the capital. It is one of the largest refineries in Russia by volume, and it was damaged in the attack.

The governor of the Moscow region said three people were killed. Two died in the attack and one died later in hospital. Twenty other people were injured, including three children. Video shared online showed a drone hitting a tall apartment building near Moscow and starting a large fire.

The attack came on the final day of Russia's parliamentary election, which ran from September 18 to 20 to choose all 450 seats of the State Duma. Both countries have continued to attack each other's energy sites, even though the United States said earlier in the week that they had agreed to stop.

launch

To send something such as a rocket or a drone towards a target.

air defences

Weapons and radar used to stop attacks that come from the sky.

region

A large area of a country, similar to a state or a province.

refinery

A factory that turns crude oil into fuel and other products.

governor

The official who leads a region or a state.

injured

Hurt in an accident or an attack.

parliament

The group of people elected to make a country's laws.

energy site

A place that produces or stores power, fuel or electricity.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Ukraine carried out the largest drone attack on Russian territory reported so far in 2026, launching a wave of aircraft that Russia's Defence Ministry said reached 19 regions as well as Crimea overnight into Sunday, September 20. The ministry put the number of drones downed at 1,110, comfortably above the previous 2026 high of 822 recorded in August, and hundreds of those drones were directed at the Moscow region alone.

According to Ukraine's General Staff, the principal objective was the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya, a district on the southeastern edge of the capital. The plant is among the largest Russian refineries measured by processing volume, and it sustained damage. Striking a refinery inside Moscow itself is significant because it moves the war from distant border regions into the everyday landscape of the Russian capital.

The human cost was reported by the governor of the Moscow region: three people were killed, two of them during the attack and a third who later died in hospital, while twenty others were injured, among them three children. Footage circulating online showed a drone striking a high-rise apartment block near Moscow, with the upper floors catching fire.

The timing mattered as much as the target. The attack landed on the closing day of Russia's parliamentary election, held from September 18 to 20 to fill all 450 seats of the State Duma. It also came despite an announcement by the United States earlier that week that the two countries had agreed to halt strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, an agreement that events on the ground did not appear to reflect.

territory

The land that belongs to and is controlled by a particular country.

objective

The specific aim or goal that an action is designed to achieve.

sustain damage

To be harmed or broken by something, without being completely destroyed.

processing volume

The amount of raw material a plant can handle over a given period.

footage

Recorded video of a real event.

high-rise

A very tall building with many floors.

infrastructure

The basic systems a country runs on, such as power, roads and pipelines.

halt

To stop something that is already happening.

Level 4 — Advanced

The drone barrage Ukraine unleashed overnight into Sunday, September 20, 2026 was, by Russia's own accounting, the heaviest of the year. Moscow's Defence Ministry reported that air defences brought down 1,110 Ukrainian aircraft over 19 regions and Crimea, eclipsing the previous 2026 benchmark of 822 set in August. The raw tally understates the operational point: hundreds of those drones were routed toward the Moscow region, concentrating the pressure on the political and economic centre rather than dispersing it across a long front.

Ukraine's General Staff identified the principal objective as the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya, a plant that ranks among Russia's largest by processing volume and that sits within the boundaries of the capital itself. The facility was damaged. The choice of target reflects a sustained Ukrainian logic of attacking refining capacity rather than oilfields, on the reasoning that refineries are harder to repair, more visible to ordinary consumers through fuel supply, and more directly tied to the revenue that funds the war.

The costs were immediate and local. The governor of the Moscow region reported three deaths, two at the scene and one subsequently in hospital, alongside twenty injuries that included three children. Video circulating online captured a drone striking a high-rise residential block outside the city, its upper floors engulfed in flame, imagery that carries a particular weight in a capital whose civilian population has largely been insulated from the war's physical reality.

What gives the episode its political charge is the calendar. The strikes coincided with the closing hours of Russia's parliamentary election, conducted from September 18 to 20 to seat all 450 members of the State Duma. They also followed, by a matter of days, an American announcement that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to suspend attacks on one another's energy infrastructure. The gap between that declaration and the events of Sunday morning illustrates a recurring feature of this conflict: understandings brokered at a distance have repeatedly failed to survive contact with the operational decisions of either military.

barrage

A rapid, concentrated volume of fire or attacks directed at a target.

eclipse

To exceed something so clearly that the earlier figure no longer seems notable.

benchmark

A recorded standard against which later results are measured.

disperse

To spread something out thinly over a wide area.

refining capacity

The total amount of crude oil an industry is able to process into usable fuel.

insulated

Protected or kept apart from an unpleasant reality affecting others.

political charge

The added significance an event carries because of its political timing or context.