Ukraine launched what Russian officials described as its largest drone assault in two years against Russia on Thursday morning, striking a Gazprom oil facility in the Moscow suburbs for the second time this week. Videos and photos from the site showed flames and thick black smoke, while residents reported debris falling across the capital area, including on residential buildings. Russian authorities also shut down operations at all four major Moscow airports, including Sheremetyevo.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted 555 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple regions, nearly 200 of them while heading toward Moscow. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that some drones still hit the suburban oil facility. Russian reports said 16 people were injured. CNN verified video showing smoke rising from part of the refinery, then a large explosion elsewhere in the complex that sent the roof of a large fuel tank flying. Another CNN video showed heavy black smoke near Moscow’s Sadovod Trade Center, which bills itself as Russia’s largest mall. Russia’s TASS news agency said an apartment building in the city was also damaged by falling debris.
The attack came as Kyiv has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure deep inside Russia, part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s strategy to pressure Moscow to end the war, nearly 4.5 years after the full-scale invasion. Zelensky said Ukraine was responsible for the refinery explosions and called them a “fair response” to Russia’s nonstop attacks on Ukrainian cities. He said the facility “supports the Russian war machine” and added that Ukrainian forces also hit targets in Russia’s Rostov region and in Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky posted the remarks from Brussels, where he arrived ahead of a NATO summit seeking more military aid. He said the strike showed partners should pay attention to the “accuracy and effectiveness” of Ukraine’s medium- and long-range attacks. The timing also coincided with Vladimir Putin being in Kazan, about 700 kilometers east of Moscow, for an ASEAN summit. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Ukraine’s position is “very good” and claimed Russia is losing 30,000 to 35,000 troops a month. Donald Trump also said Russia is losing more soldiers than Ukraine during the G7 summit, where Zelensky said allies agreed to help Ukraine get more air-defense capabilities.
