Ukrainian drones struck the Gazprom Neft Kapotnya oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow in what officials described as one of the largest single attacks on Russian territory since the war began more than four years ago. The refinery sits just ten miles from the Kremlin. The message from Kyiv was hard to miss.
It was the second hit on the same facility within a week. This time the scale was far greater. Waves of drones breached Russian air defenses overnight and into the morning, sending fireballs skyward and triggering fires that burned for hours. Videos verified by NBC News and Reuters showed drones flying directly into the refinery complex, with one explosion sending the lid of a fuel tank rocketing into the air. Sixteen people were injured across the wider Moscow region, with a residential building, a shopping mall and private houses also sustaining damage.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the attack, saying 180 Ukrainian drones were intercepted around the capital alone, but acknowledged several had successfully hit the refinery. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 555 drones were shot down across the country in total. Flights at all Moscow airports were suspended for hours as authorities managed the fallout.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike and left no room for ambiguity. “We don’t want this war, we never did,” he said in a voice message to reporters. “But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.” He described the attack as direct retaliation for a Russian strike that damaged the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra one of Ukraine’s most historic Orthodox monasteries and said it proved that Russia’s air defenses can be bypassed. “The main thing is that the people of Russia begin to feel that it is one man, Putin, who is waging this war, while ordinary people pay the price for everything,” he added.
Russia’s response came the same night at least seven ballistic missiles and 239 drones fired at targets across Ukraine. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, was direct: “Their action will lead to our counteraction and launching harsher blows, with more powerful weapons.” The attack came hours before NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels a clear signal from Kyiv that even as the world’s attention shifts to the Middle East, this war is far from over.
