Ukraine hits Moscow refinery in major drone attack on Russian capital

Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow on Thursday, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for the second time this week in what Kyiv cast as a response to an attack 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 it.

In Moscow, Reuters saw 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 that several drones managed to reach the refinery, adding that a shopping centre also suffered minor damage.

Russia’s defense ministry said 555 drones were shot down across the country. Sobyanin said 180 were shot down around Moscow alone. State news agency TASS said the attack on Moscow was one of the biggest this year.

Zelenskyy confirmed the attack on the refinery. Ukraine’s military said that Ukrainian forces also hit an oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region and another two bridges as Kyiv intensifies its campaign to hamper Russia’s logistics.

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

After years when Russian forces made slow but relentless gains on the battlefield, Kyiv says its improving drone capabilities are shifting the war’s momentum in its favor, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree 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, which says Ukraine is losing, has demanded Kyiv cede its territory before it will discuss peace.

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

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 shut on the highway around the capital near the refinery. Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow’s busiest, said it had been evacuated.

Elsewhere in Russia, officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in his car in the Belgorod border region, and a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and caused a fire at two commercial facilities in the Rostov region.

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. There were no further reports from the authorities on damage or casualties in the city.

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

周四，乌克兰对莫斯科发动了一次大规模无人机袭击，本周第二次袭击了俄罗斯首都的炼油厂。基辅方面称，这是对莫斯科一座近千年历史的修道院遭到袭击的回应。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基在发给WhatsApp群组记者的语音信息中说：“我们不想要这场战争，我们从来都不想，每个人都知道这一点，我们的伙伴也知道这一点。但如果乌克兰战火纷飞，你们的莫斯科也将遭受同样的命运。”

俄罗斯方面本周第二次向基辅发射导弹，此前基辅佩乔尔斯克修道院遭到袭击，受损严重，引发国际社会谴责。俄罗斯否认发动袭击。

路透社记者在莫斯科看到，人口稠密的东南部卡波特尼亚区上空燃起火焰，浓烟滚滚，为首都供应石油的炼油厂就位于该区。

莫斯科市长谢尔盖·索比亚宁表示，有几架无人机成功抵达炼油厂，并补充说，一家购物中心也遭受了轻微损坏。

俄罗斯国防部称，全国共击落555架无人机。索比亚宁表示，仅在莫斯科附近就有180架被击落。塔斯社称，对莫斯科的袭击是今年以来规模最大的袭击之一。

泽连斯基证实了对炼油厂的袭击。乌克兰军方表示，乌克兰军队还袭击了俄罗斯南部罗斯托夫地区的一个石油仓库和另外两座桥梁，基辅方面正在加大力度破坏俄罗斯的后勤保障。

俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰四年多以来，乌克兰越来越多地使用远程无人机袭击俄罗斯的能源基础设施，而俄罗斯也继续向乌克兰城市发射导弹。

多年来，俄罗斯军队在战场上取得了缓慢但持续的进展。基辅方面表示，俄罗斯不断提高的无人机能力正在扭转战争局势，使其向有利于自己的方向发展，这为莫斯科同意和平协议提供了新的动力。

泽连斯基发起外交攻势，加大对俄罗斯的压力，促使其通过谈判结束战争。

“今天早上莫斯科人问得最多的问题之一就是‘到底发生了什么？’我可以回答。你们的国家对我们发动了侵略战争。多年来，它一直在杀害我们的人民。既然你们知道了发生了什么，那就去问问普京，他打算什么时候结束这场战争吧。”乌克兰外交部长安德烈·西比哈在X上发帖说道。

莫斯科声称乌克兰正在战败，并要求基辅割让领土，才肯讨论和平问题。

据国际文传电讯社报道，克里姆林宫助手尤里·乌沙科夫表示，乌克兰最近对俄罗斯的袭击正在推迟普京总统和泽连斯基之间任何直接接触的可能性。

泽连斯基称对俄罗斯的袭击是“对俄罗斯袭击我们城市和社区的完全公平的回应，也是我们士兵摧毁为俄罗斯战争机器提供支持的设施的又一重要成果”。

消息人士称，周二莫斯科炼油厂遭到无人机袭击，导致该炼油厂停产，加剧了俄罗斯能源设施遭受的广泛破坏。

据业内人士透露，作为世界第三大石油生产国和主要石油及燃料出口国，俄罗斯本月将通过海运进口燃料，以应对乌克兰无人机袭击炼油厂后出现的汽油短缺问题。

莫斯科周边地区州长表示，无人机袭击造成一栋高层住宅楼、一家工业设施和一些私人住宅受损，另有 16 人受伤。

莫斯科所有机场的航班暂停，炼油厂附近环绕首都的高速公路交通封闭。莫斯科最繁忙的谢列梅捷沃机场表示已完成人员疏散。

在俄罗斯其他地区，官员称乌克兰无人机袭击导致别尔哥罗德边境地区一名男子在车内丧生；乌克兰无人机袭击导致罗斯托夫地区两处商业设施发生火灾，造成一人死亡。

与此同时，基辅响起爆炸声，乌克兰大部分地区发布了空袭警报。

基辅市军事管理局局长季穆尔·特卡琴科称，俄罗斯正使用弹道导弹袭击首都。当局没有发布关于该市损失或人员伤亡的进一步报告。

乌克兰东北部城市苏梅的当局称，昨晚一人死于无人机袭击；而周四清晨，东南部城市第聂伯罗遭到俄罗斯袭击，造成一人死亡，另有 11 人受伤。