Oil rains down on Moscow as Ukraine’s largest drone attack hits refinery

Close to 200 drones hit targets around the Russian capital, sparking a fire at the Moscow Oil Refinery in south-east Moscow and forcing evacuations at Sheremetyevo International Airport

Ukraine has unleashed its most extensive drone assault on Moscow since the full-scale conflict began, with nearly 200 drones striking targets and igniting blazes across the Russian capital. The bombardment on Thursday targeted a major oil refinery in south-east Moscow and prompted evacuations at the nation’s busiest airport, officials confirmed.

Striking images captured flames ripping through the Moscow Oil Refinery as massive plumes of black smoke swept across the capital’s southern horizon. Seventeen individuals sustained injuries in the Moscow region, local governor Andrei Vorobyov reported.

A drone smashed into a residential block in the Moscow region district of Zhukovsky, while wreckage from another assault triggered a blaze at a shopping centre on the capital’s periphery. A separate Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s southern Rostov region claimed one life and wounded at least two others, local governor Yury Slyusar confirmed.

Footage shared on social media shows vehicles black with “oil rain.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the attacks in a social media statement, describing them as a “fully justified response” to Russian assaults on Ukraine, reports the Mirror.

This marks the second occasion this week and the third time in a month that Kyiv has targeted the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya District. “It is time the war ended, and Russia must take the necessary steps in diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said.

The assault was the most significant on Moscow in at least two years, according to Russia’s state TASS news agency. This marks the second time this month that Kyiv has initiated a major attack during an international summit, having previously targeted Saint Petersburg at the commencement of a notable economic forum near the city.

The onslaught occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in the central city of Kazan, roughly 700 kilometres east of Moscow. Putin has yet to comment on the large-scale attack on the Russian capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram early on Thursday that “several drones” had struck the Moscow Oil Refinery, without detailing the extent of the damage to the facility.

All of Moscow’s airports were closed for several hours, resulting in hundreds of flight delays. Sheremetyevo International Airport – the nation’s busiest – announced it had moved passengers to “safe locations” during the barrage, before reopening around 11am local time.

Russian air defences brought down approximately 180 drones en route to Moscow, Sobyanin stated, while the defence ministry reported intercepting over 500 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight.

Kyiv has intensified its drone strikes on Russia in recent months, targeting oil refineries that bolster Moscow’s war coffers, as diplomatic discussions to end the conflict, now in its fifth year, remain at a standstill. This marked the second Ukrainian strike on the Moscow refinery this week.

Russia also unleashed over 200 drones and multiple ballistic missiles at Ukraine between late Wednesday and early Thursday, as reported by the Ukrainian air force.

Despite the economic and societal impacts of his four-year assault on Ukraine, a recent surge in Ukrainian attacks has compelled the Kremlin to retaliate.

Following Kyiv’s similar strikes on Saint Petersburg during Putin’s flagship economic conference earlier this month, the Russian leader pledged to strengthen air defences. In addition, Russia’s federal aviation regulator imposed a ban on civilian drones and light aircraft around Moscow’s airspace earlier this week, in response to the attacks.

Russian authorities limit the publication of photos and videos from locations targeted by Ukrainian drones, and state media had yet to release any imagery from the scene of the attack – the dense smoke visible from the city centre.

At the G7 summit in France earlier this week, US President Donald Trump suggested that Moscow should “make a deal” to conclude the Ukraine war as Russia’s advances have decelerated.

Russia’s 2022 offensive on Ukraine has escalated into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, resulting in hundreds of thousands of fatalities.