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Moscow refinery hit
Ukrainian drones set a Moscow refinery ablaze in a major attack on the Russian capital, sending black smoke over the city and briefly grounding flights, officials said.
“After Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery on the outskirts of Moscow, Russian voices are growing louder calling for a hard response”
The strike came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France and won key pledges of further support from this week’s G-7 summit.
Zelensky said, “If Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too,” adding that the attack was part of Kyiv’s effort to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
The Los Angeles Times said the refinery was attacked for the second time in a week, and it was “largely contained,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said hours afterward as remaining hotspots were being extinguished.
The Guardian reported the attack was Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major oil refinery on fire in the Kapotnya area and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport.
Threats and counterstrikes
Russian officials and lawmakers framed the refinery attack as requiring retaliation, with Vyacheslav Volodin warning that Moscow would respond by ramping up strikes.
Volodin threatened, “Their action will lead to our counteraction and launching harsher blows, with more powerful weapons,” in televised remarks reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The Guardian said Russia’s foreign minister announced it would launch huge “group strikes” on Ukraine “on a regular basis” in response to the Moscow raid.
Ukrainian officials tied the drone campaign to pressure for negotiations, with the Los Angeles Times saying Zelensky described the attack as part of efforts to force Putin to the negotiating table.
The Guardian also reported that Russia said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions overnight, though the number could not be independently confirmed.
Fuel strain and next moves
The refinery attack fed into concerns about energy strain, as the Los Angeles Times reported that some areas had reported fuel shortages and that gas station chains in multiple regions introduced restrictions on what drivers could buy.
“Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow in Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major oil refinery on fire and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport”
The Los Angeles Times cited Russian independent news outlet Agentstvo saying that 1 in every 4 gas stations in the country has introduced some kind of restrictions.
At the same time, authorities in the capital said in a statement hours after the attack that “supplies of oil products to Moscow and the work of all gas stations in the city continue as normal.”
The Guardian said the strike was the second in two days on the facility, with local authorities claiming it injured at least 17 people, including two children, and it reported that Russia said 555 drones were destroyed overnight.
Looking ahead, the Los Angeles Times said Ukraine’s expanded long-range drone campaign aims to choke Russian oil revenues and supply lines, while the Guardian reported the UK would pay £750m to supply Kyiv with a further 150,000 Ukrainian-made drones and more than 350 air defence missiles.
