Ukraine hits Moscow refinery in major drone attack on Russian capital
Written by: Max Hunder and Jekaterina Golubkova
June 18 (Reuters) – Ukraine launched a massive drone strike on Moscow on Thursday, hitting an oil refinery in the Russian capital for the second time this week in Kiev’s response to an attack that damaged a nearly 1,000-year-old monastery in the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a voice message sent to journalists from the WhatsApp group, “We do not want this war, we never wanted it, and everyone knows it, our partners also know it.” “But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow burns too.”
Russia fired a missile at Kiev for the second time this week, following the attack that damaged the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery and sparked international condemnation. Russia denied the attack.
In Moscow, Reuters saw flames and clouds of smoke over the densely populated southeastern Kapotnya district, where the refinery supplying fuel to the capital is located.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that many unmanned aerial vehicles managed to reach the refinery and a shopping mall suffered minor damage.
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE
The Russian defense ministry said 555 unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down across the country. Sobyanin said 180 people were shot around Moscow alone. State news agency TASS said the attack on Moscow was one of the biggest attacks of this year.
Zelenskiy confirmed the attack on the refinery. Ukrainian forces also hit an oil depot and two other bridges in Russia’s southern Rostov region, the Ukrainian military said, as Kiev intensified its campaign to disrupt Russian logistics.
Over the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes, while Russia continues to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities.
After years in which Russian forces made slow but inexorable gains on the battlefield, Kiev says growing drone capabilities are turning the tide of the war in its favor and giving Moscow new impetus to broker a peace deal.
Zelenskiy launched a diplomatic initiative 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’s going on?’ I can answer. Your country has launched a war of aggression against ours. It has been killing our people for years. “Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he plans to end this.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha shared on X.
MOSCOW says ATTACK pushes back hope of meeting
Saying that Ukraine had lost, Moscow demanded that Kiev give up its territory before negotiating peace.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Ukraine’s recent attacks on Russia precluded any possibility of direct contact between President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy, Interfax news agency reported.
Zelenskiy called the attacks on Russia “a completely fair response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities and another important result of our soldiers’ work on facilities that provide support for the Russian war machine.”
A drone attack on Moscow’s refinery on Tuesday had already halted operations there and caused massive damage to Russian energy facilities, sources said.
Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer and a major exporter of oil and fuel, is preparing to import fuel by sea this month as it tries to address gasoline shortages following Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries, industry sources said.
In the surrounding Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility and several private houses were damaged and 16 people were injured, the regional governor said.
Flights were suspended at all airports in Moscow and traffic was closed on the highway around the capital near the refinery. It was stated that Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow’s busiest airport, was evacuated.
Elsewhere in Russia, officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in his car in the Belgorod border region, while a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and caused a fire at two commercial facilities in the Rostov region.
EXPLOSION IN KIEV
Meanwhile, explosions were heard in Kiev and air raid alerts were issued for much of Ukrainian territory.
Timur Tkachenko, the head of Kiev’s military administration, said Russia attacked the capital with ballistic missiles. There were no other reports of damage or loss of life in the city from authorities.
Officials in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in an overnight drone strike, while one person was killed and 11 others were injured in an attack in Russia’s southeastern city of Dnipro early Thursday, the regional governor said.
(Reporting by Max Hunder in Kiev, Jekaterina Golubkova in Tokyo, Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk and the Reuters Moscow bureau; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams)
