Ukraine launched dozens of drones into Moscow on Tuesday morning, reportedly causing significant damage to the city’s largest oil refinery, located just miles away from the Kremlin. The Moscow Oil Refinery is located in the city’s Kapotnya District and owned by Russia’s massive Gazprom Corporation. Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed the attack early Tuesday morning in a statement posted on Telegram, the cloud-based messaging application.
“Over the past 24 hours, an attack by enemy drones on Moscow has continued,” said Sobyanin. “One of the drones damaged a facility on the territory of the Moscow Refinery. There were no casualties. Emergency services are working at the scene of the incident.”
No casualties from the Ukrainian strike were reported by Russian news media.
The Moscow Oil Refinery is an integral part of the city’s energy infrastructure. It processed 11.6 tons of oil in 2024, the latest year for which data are available, according to Reuters. Tuesday’s strike on the refinery is at least the second-known incident during the Russia-Ukraine war in which the oil refinery was damaged due to a Ukrainian drone attack, with the previous one being on Sept. 1, 2024.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a social media post about his country’s drone attack on Moscow, categorizing it as a “just response to Russian strikes.”
“This time, the Moscow region felt the reach of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities,” said Zelensky. “An oil refinery was hit at a distance of 500 kilometers. I thank the warriors of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, the Defense Intelligence sile Forces for their effective work.”
Zelensky then repeated a message about the war that he has been saying for months, calling for Russia to end the war. He added on Tuesday morning that now Ukraine’s drones would play a part in applying pressure on Russia to make that decision.
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“Russia must be forced to end its war against our people,” said Zelensky. “And Ukraine’s long-range weapons are one of the important components of such pressure. This is a just response to Russian strikes – and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended.”
“Glory to Ukraine!” he added.
On Monday, Russia launched another attack against Ukraine, striking the capital city of Kyiv. During the attack, the city’s historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, one of the oldest churches in Ukraine and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was damaged. It was founded in the second half of the 11th century, with conflicting dates of establishment, citing either 1051 or 1074. Russia denied hitting the historic site, instead blaming the damage on a Patriot missile made by the U.S.