MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ukraine launches its largest drone attack on Moscow, striking an oil refinery

Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the attack and reported at least five fires at the plant, where processing units and a storage tank farm were burning

Ukraine on Thursday launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, hitting the capital's oil refinery in the Kapotnya district, covering the city in black smoke and forcing the closure of its four airports. It was the second strike on that facility —run by a subsidiary of state-owned Gazprom— in a week.

Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the attack and reported at least five fires at the plant, where processing units and a storage tank farm were burning. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin acknowledged that several drones reached the refinery. Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down 555 Ukrainian drones overnight across various regions, almost 200 of them in the vicinity of the capital.

The attack disrupted life in the city. Beyond the closure of the four airports —which led to the cancellation of more than 170 flights by the Aeroflot and Rossiya airlines— drone debris fell on residential and commercial areas, including the Sadovod wholesale center, where a building was damaged. According to Russian authorities, at least 16 people were injured in the Moscow region, including two minors.

| Uno de los videos más impresionantes de la guerra de Rusia y Ucrania: un misil impactó contra la tapa de un depósito de combustible en Moscú y la hizo volar por los aires. pic.twitter.com/BRj2uWb7fa

— Mundo en Conflicto (@MundoEConflicto) June 18, 2026

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the attack and presented it as part of his “long-range” campaign against the infrastructure that sustains Russia's war effort. “This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities,” he said, adding that “it is time to end this war.” In a message to the press, he linked the actions to a Russian bombing that damaged an Orthodox sanctuary in Kyiv this week: “If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.”

The strike came hours after Zelensky held an “important coordination call” with US President Donald Trump and France's Emmanuel Macron, and on the eve of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine continued: explosions were reported in Kyiv, one person was killed in the city of Sumy, and air-raid alerts were issued across much of the territory. Other Russian regions also reported casualties: the governors of Rostov and Belgorod each reported one death from drone attacks.

This month's bombardments mark a shift from earlier stages of the war, with a larger scale and a growing focus on energy targets. Russia faces gasoline-supply problems after repeated Ukrainian strikes against its oil infrastructure, a vulnerability that Kyiv seeks to bring to the Russian rear after more than three years of bombing of Ukrainian cities.