Russia says it intercepted over 550 drones nationwide as flights from four Moscow airports are halted
Ukraine struck the Moscow Oil Refinery overnight for the second time within a week, while additional targets were hit in Russia’s Rostov region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the strike, saying several drones reached the site on the southeastern outskirts of the capital.
Scale of the Overnight Attack
According to official sources, Sobyanin said close to 200 drones were intercepted on approach to Moscow alone, calling it the largest such barrage on the Russian capital since the war began. The previous high for a single night had been recorded in March this year, when authorities reported 74 drones shot down approaching the city, making the latest figure more than double that earlier record. Russia’s Defence Ministry put the nationwide figure at 555 drones intercepted and destroyed overnight. The Russian Transport Ministry confirmed flight suspensions at four Moscow airports as a precaution, and state news agency reports ranked the night among the most significant attacks on the capital this year.
Damage Reported in and Around the Capital
Located in the Kapotnya district on the city’s southeastern edge, the plant is a major supplier of fuel to the capital region. Officials said the latest hit triggered fresh fires there, while a residential building elsewhere in the Moscow region was damaged and its occupants evacuated as a precaution. Drone debris was also reported to have struck a commercial building and an industrial site nearby, with authorities saying a number of people were injured, though the full scope of the damage was still being confirmed.
Strikes on the Rostov Fuel Depot
As per reports, Ukrainian forces also hit a fuel depot in Russia’s Rostov region overnight, with local authorities confirming a fire broke out at the site. The depot is reportedly used to store fuel that supports Russian military transport, distinguishing it from the energy-sector strike near the capital, which has focused on civilian fuel supply rather than logistics tied directly to the battlefield. Damage to nearby infrastructure was also reported, though regional officials offered no further detail on the extent. The overnight operation reportedly also extended to a railway bridge in occupied territory used by Russian forces to move equipment and fuel toward the southern front, part of a wider coordinated push against logistics routes beyond the energy sector alone.
Zelenskyy Links Strike to Earlier Attack on Kyiv Monastery
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the overnight strikes as a justified response to Russia’s ongoing military actions. He connected them to a Russian strike days earlier on a centuries-old monastery complex in Kyiv, an attack that damaged a historic cathedral on the site and drew condemnation from several governments abroad. Zelenskyy framed the latest drone campaign as a direct answer to that earlier strike rather than a standalone escalation.
Diplomatic Backdrop to the Strikes
The renewed exchange comes as separate diplomatic discussions on the broader war have continued among Ukraine’s allies, even as neither government has indicated any change to its current military approach. A Kremlin aide was quoted by a Russian news agency saying the latest strikes were pushing back the prospect of direct talks between the two countries’ leaders. Russian officials have not detailed the precise damage caused by either of the week’s two strikes on the plant, leaving the actual impact on its output unclear for now.
Conclusion:
The repeat strike on Moscow’s largest fuel-processing site shows how far Ukraine’s drone campaign now reaches into Russian territory, even as the two sides continue to frame each new attack as a response to the other’s previous strikes.
Also read: Finland Backs India on Russian Oil Purchases as Jaishankar Rejects Western Criticism
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