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Russian authorities confirmed the strike caused damage to the facility in the Kapotnya district of southeast Moscow, though no casualties were reported.
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Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced the incident on Russia’s state-run Maks platform, saying that “one of the drones damaged a Moscow oil refinery facility” and that there were no injuries. He added that 60 drones targeting Moscow had been intercepted on Tuesday alone — what the TASS state news agency described as one of the largest barrages aimed at the Russian capital this year.
Local authorities closed the area around the refinery to traffic following the strike.
Zelensky confirmed Ukraine was responsible, framing the operation as a show of long-range force. “This time, the Moscow region felt the reach of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities. An oil refinery was hit at a distance of 500 kilometres,” he wrote on social media, sharing footage appearing to show a drone passing over residential buildings before striking an industrial site near a red-and-white chimney.
“This is a just response to Russian strikes — and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended,” the Ukrainian president said.
The strike came a day after Kyiv said Russia launched more than 600 drones and 70 missiles across Ukraine, killing at least 11 people and damaging a historic Orthodox monastery site in the capital.
Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — sustained damage to part of the Dormition Cathedral’s roof and dome in what Zelensky called “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.” Ukrainian security services found the remains of at least two Geran-2 drones at the complex. Russia denied responsibility, blaming a US-made Patriot missile, but offered no evidence to support the claim.
Russia has maintained near-daily aerial bombardments of Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022. In recent months, Kyiv has escalated retaliatory strikes on Russian territory, repeatedly targeting oil refineries and export infrastructure in an effort to erode the fossil fuel revenues underpinning Moscow’s war effort.
