Ukraine's 555-Drone Barrage Hits Moscow Oil Refinery
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- Ukraine struck the Moscow Oil Refinery for the second time in a week, igniting massive fires at a facility 15 km from the Kremlin that supplies more than a third of the capital region's fuel, according to Russian officials and the refinery's website
- Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 555 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple regions, with nearly 200 intercepted as they approached Moscow — roughly double the number of drones Russia launched at Ukraine the same night
- Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow's busiest, suspended flights and was evacuated, with travellers sheltering in the parking area; 16 people were injured in the Moscow region after drones hit a residential building in Zhukovsky, a fitness centre, houses, and a mall whose roof caught fire
- Russia fired missiles into Kyiv for the second time this week, days after an attack damaged the city's 1,000-year-old monastery and drew international condemnation
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Moscow strike a "fully justified response" aimed at forcing Putin to the negotiating table, saying "Russia must take the necessary steps in diplomacy"
- President Vladimir Putin was 700 km away in Kazan hosting ASEAN leaders when the drones hit, the latest embarrassment after a Ukrainian strike on his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month
- The attack followed a G7 summit in France where Zelenskyy secured further pledges of support, and a trilateral call with U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron that Zelenskyy said "may bring about significant change"
Why it matters: The Moscow Oil Refinery supplies over a third of the capital region's fuel, and hitting it twice in one week directly targets Russia's war revenue while Putin was 700 km away hosting ASEAN leaders. With G7 pledging further support, Zelenskyy is betting that sustained strikes on Russian oil infrastructure can pressure Putin to negotiate — even as Russia retaliates with missile strikes on Kyiv.
