Moscow, June 18: Ukraine struck a major Moscow oil refinery Thursday for a second time in a week, sending huge plumes of black smoke over the capital and disrupting flights at its airports in one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion over four years ago, officials said.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.
The attack by dozens of drones came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France and had won key pledges of further support from this week’s G7 summit.
“If Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the attack was part of Kyiv’s effort to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. “It is time to end the aggression, time to end this war.”
Zelenskyy was expected to hold talks in Brussels later Thursday with NATO and European Union leaders, including about the possibility of a continental system to defend against ballistic missiles. Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defences struggle to counter.
The Moscow attack was the latest embarrassment for Putin, after a Ukrainian drone attack on his hometown of St Petersburg earlier this month as he welcomed foreign VIPs to his showcase economic forum in the city.
Fires rage at Moscow refinery
Thick, black smoke and occasional flames spewed from the Moscow Oil Refinery amid its red-and-white smokestacks on the southeastern edge of the city, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Sooty, black rain fell on cars, according to local video.
“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is What is going on?'” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. “I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”
The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its official website, and produces more than a third of the Moscow region’s fuel. It was last attacked by Ukrainian drones on Tuesday, catching fire, but officials said the blaze was swiftly put out.
Thursday’s fire at the refinery was “largely contained,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that remaining hotspots were being extinguished.
As Ukraine pressed its strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, fuel supplies appeared to be under strain. Gas station chains in multiple regions have introduced restrictions on what drivers could buy. Russian independent news outlet Agentstvo reported that one in every four gas stations in the country has introduced some kind of restrictions.
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 attack also temporarily halted flights from four Moscow airports, transport and aviation authorities said.
In the greater Moscow region, a drone hit a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky, according to Gov Andrei Vorobyov. Buildings elsewhere were damaged by drone debris, injuring 17 people, including two children, he added.
Ukrainian drone attack embarrasses Putin again
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defences overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they were approaching Moscow. That was roughly double the number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometres (430 miles) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the nations of the regional bloc.
“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” Zelenskyy said in a voice message to a group chat with journalists. The Ukrainian president has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Putin has refused, and US-led peace efforts have petered out. (AP)
