Ukraine hits Moscow refinery in major drone attack on Russian capital

Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow on Thursday, striking the Russian capital's oil refinery for the second time this week. Kyiv characterized the attack as a response to a Russian strike that damaged a nearly 1,000-year-old monastery in the city.

"We don't want this war, we never did, and everyone knows it, and our partners know it," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a voice message sent to reporters on a WhatsApp group. "But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn."

Russia, for its part, fired missiles into Kyiv—also for the second time this week—following the attack that damaged the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery and drew international condemnation. Russia denied striking the monastery.

In Moscow, Reuters observed flames and plumes of smoke over the densely populated southeastern district of Kapotnya, where the refinery supplying the capital is located.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said several drones managed to reach the refinery, adding that a shopping center also sustained minor damage.

Diplomatic Push

Russia's defense ministry reported that 555 drones were shot down across the country. Sobyanin said 180 were shot down around Moscow alone. State news agency TASS described the attack on Moscow as one of the largest this year.

Zelenskyy confirmed the attack on the refinery. Ukraine's military stated that Ukrainian forces also hit an oil depot in Russia's southern Rostov region and damaged two additional bridges, as Kyiv intensifies its campaign to disrupt Russian logistics.

More than four years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia's energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes, while Russia has continued firing missiles at Ukrainian cities.

After years of slow but relentless Russian gains on the battlefield, Kyiv claims its improving drone capabilities are shifting the war's momentum in its favor, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree to a peace deal.

Zelenskyy has launched a diplomatic push to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war.

"One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is 'What is going on?' 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," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X.

Moscow Says Attack Pushes Back Prospect for Talks

Moscow, which claims Ukraine is losing, has demanded that Kyiv cede its territory before it will discuss peace.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Ukraine's latest attacks on Russia are pushing back the prospect of any direct contacts between President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, according to the Interfax news agency.

Zelenskyy called the attacks on Russia a "totally fair response to Russian strikes on our cities and communities and another important result of the work of our soldiers on facilities that provide support for the Russian war machine."

A drone strike on Tuesday on Moscow's refinery had already halted operations there, sources said, adding to widespread damage to Russian energy facilities.

Russia—the world's third-biggest oil producer and a major oil and fuel exporter—is set to import fuel by sea this month as it seeks to manage a gasoline shortage following Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries, according to industry sources.

In the surrounding Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility, and a number of private houses were damaged in the drone attack, which also injured 16 people, the regional governor said.

Flights were suspended at all Moscow airports and traffic was shut on the highway around the capital near the refinery. Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow's busiest, said it had been evacuated.

Elsewhere in Russia, officials reported:

• A Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in his car in the Belgorod border region.
• A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and caused a fire at two commercial facilities in the Rostov region.

Explosions in Kyiv

Meanwhile, explosions rang out in Kyiv and airstrike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine's territory.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said Russia was attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. No further reports on damage or casualties in the city were available from authorities.

Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack overnight. In the southeastern city of Dnipro, the regional governor reported that a man was killed and 11 other people were injured in a Russian attack early on Thursday.