Ukraine Strikes Moscow, Oil Refinery Hit
Ukrainian drones attacked several locations in Moscow on Thursday, setting an oil refinery ablaze and sending plumes of smoke across the city, forcing the capital’s airports to delay flights. The scale of the long-range attack, which appeared designed to halt operations at the major refinery in the Kapotno district, surprised many Muscovites in a city that typically does not warn residents of air raids, triggering panicked messages on social media.
Footage posted online showed three columns of smoke rising from the refinery. The strike was the second in two days on the facility, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later called a “just response to Russian attacks”. The Ukrainian assault came after Kyiv was hit by a massive barrage of ballistic missiles and drones, marking an escalation in the air war between Moscow and Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of “systemic strikes” against Ukraine.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defence forces continued to repel a large-scale attack, acknowledging that some drones reached the Moscow oil refinery and that a shopping centre was also damaged. He claimed around 180 drones heading for the capital had been downed. Sobyanin said emergency crews were working at the site and also reported “damage” to the Sadovod shopping centre in the southeastern part of the city. At least seven drones appeared to have overcome Russian air defences to strike targets within the city.
Traffic was halted on the Moscow ring road near the refinery, the RIA news agency reported citing the interior ministry, while air traffic was disrupted at Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports. Footage uploaded to social media also showed a strike on the upper floors of a multi-storey building in the Zhukovsky district. A previous attack on Tuesday was known to have halted operations at the refinery, adding to extensive damage to Russian energy facilities and extending the fuel crisis further into the country.
Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer and a major exporter of oil and fuel, will import fuel by sea this month in an effort to tackle shortages following extensive Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries. In the Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility and several private houses were damaged by the drone strikes, the regional governor said. Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow’s busiest, suspended flights and evacuated people, with some seeking shelter in car parks, according to the airport.
Russia said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones across several regions overnight. The actual number shot down could not be independently confirmed. Kyiv came under air attack this week as Russia launched ballistic missiles at the Ukrainian capital, city officials said, urging residents to take shelter. Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone strike. Air raid alerts were issued for most of Ukraine.
One person was killed in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, where most staff of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant live, the Russian-appointed mayor Maksim Pukhov said. In Russia’s Belgorod border region, officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person inside his car. On Wednesday, Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking a bus carrying Belarusian children, a claim Kyiv said was untrue. In the southern Russian Rostov region, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and caused fires at two commercial facilities, officials said. Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians.