Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, called the massive attack by Ukrainian drones on Moscow and the Moscow region on May 17, 2026, "the final stage of the criminal Kyiv regime's death throes." In his Telegram channel, the parliamentarian stated that civilians were once again being targeted in the "Ukronazis'" retaliation for their failures on the front lines.

Slutsky believes that with this attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "trying to wash away the shame in front of his Western handlers" over the corruption scandal involving former head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak, who is suspected of laundering 460 million hryvnias. The MP also claimed that the Western "war party" was behind the attack.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that air defense assets shot down 1045 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the 24 hours of May 17. Among the destroyed targets were two missiles: a Neptune-MD and a Flamingo long-range cruise missile. Furthermore, the Black Sea Fleet destroyed six unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.