By Jekaterina Golubkova and Ronald Popeski
June 18 (Reuters) – Scores of Ukrainian drones bore down on Moscow on Thursday, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for the second time this week in what Kyiv cast as a demonstration of its growing capabilities that should force Russia to accept a peace deal.
Russia, for its part, fired missiles into Kyiv, also for the second time this week, following an attack that damaged Kyiv’s landmark 1,000-year-old monastery and drew international condemnation.
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.
“Air defense forces continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that a shopping centre also suffered minor damage.
Russia’s defence 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.
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 favour, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree a peace deal.
“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.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy 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.”
An earlier 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 also damaged in the drone attack, 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 one 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 southern Rostov region.
EXPLOSIONS IN KYIV
Meanwhile explosions rang out in Kyiv and airstrike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine’s territory.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air raid alert is over!” Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post early on Thursday, without details.
Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack.
Earlier this week, a major attack on Kyiv by Russia damaged the mediaeval monastery that symbolises Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage, drawing condemnation from European leaders. Russia denied striking it.
Zelenskiy has launched a diplomatic push to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war.
Moscow, which says Ukraine is losing, has demanded Kyiv cede additional territory before it will discuss peace. Ukraine says that for the first time since 2023 it is now gaining ground at the front, using medium-range drones to cut off supply lines and long-range ones to inflict pain on the Russian home front.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova, Ron Popeski, Max HunderEditing by Peter Graff)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.