Ukraine launched what Moscow authorities called the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the war began, setting a major oil refinery ablaze and killing at least two people. The strike hit on the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections and came days after Donald Trump claimed Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said air defenses shot down 450 drones approaching the capital on Saturday night. According to the Financial Times, Sobyanin said the attack was "clearly planned to disrupt the elections", adding that it had failed to do so.
Russia's defence ministry said it intercepted 1,110 drones nationwide overnight. Crypto Briefing separately reported that the tally across multiple defensive perimeters since the previous day exceeded 1,600 drones, the largest aerial assault on Moscow since the war began.
Refinery and residential areas hit
Several drones struck the Moscow Refinery in the south of the capital, one of Russia's largest, with videos on social media showing explosions and black smoke shrouding the sunrise. Crypto Briefing identified the target as the Gazprom Neft-owned Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district, a facility it said supplies up to 40% of the capital's petrol.
Drones also hit residential buildings near the refinery and at least 11 suburban towns, and a nearby power station, warehouse and market were also struck. Two people died and 20 more were injured, including three children, according to Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region. Flights were grounded at all three of Moscow's main airports.
Strikes continue despite Trump's ceasefire claim
Kyiv and Moscow have kept striking each other's energy infrastructure this week, even though Donald Trump said on Monday that the warring sides had agreed to halt such attacks, which he blamed for the surge in global diesel prices. Trump has not commented on the latest strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine used domestically produced drones and cruise missiles to hit facilities that earned billions of dollars for the war effort. Crypto Briefing reported that Zelensky also confirmed the operation involved domestically manufactured Flamingo and Pelican missiles, Ukrainian-made weapons that give Kyiv more freedom to strike deep inside Russia without the restrictions attached to NATO-origin systems.
Zelenskyy said a plan to de-escalate strikes on energy and food export infrastructure was under discussion but required political will. Russia has rejected calls for a ceasefire on infrastructure attacks ahead of an expected major air campaign against Ukraine this winter, and people familiar with Vladimir Putin's thinking say he expects the strikes to strengthen Moscow's position and extract concessions from Kyiv.
A Russian air strike overnight on Kyiv killed a mother and two small children, while a drone destroyed a vehicle in the Sumy region, killing four people. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 138 drones overnight, half of them jet-powered models.
The attack landed on the final day of Russia's three-day parliamentary elections, the first since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Turnout stood at 48% as of noon local time on Sunday, according to the central election commission, with Russia's supreme court having removed Yabloko, the only party to voice even mild opposition to the war, from the ballot last month.
Sources: Financial Times, Crypto Briefing
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