Ukraine launched a massive overnight drone assault across Russia, sending hundreds of drones towards Moscow and striking an oil refinery in the capital region as Russia entered the final day of its parliamentary elections.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted or destroyed 1,110 Ukrainian drones across 19 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea. It described the overnight barrage as the largest such attack reported this year.
Moscow bore the heaviest pressure. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones were heading towards the capital, with 186 reportedly destroyed over Moscow itself and another 249 downed in the surrounding Moscow region, according to Russian authorities. Several drones reached the Moscow Oil Refinery, operated by Gazprom Neft in the southeastern Kapotnya district. Sobyanin said part of the facility was damaged, while Ukraine’s General Staff claimed three major processing units were hit and a large fire broke out.
The refinery processes about 11.6 million tonnes of crude a year and supplies fuel to Moscow and the surrounding region. Its location, roughly 25 kilometres from the Kremlin, puts a major Russian energy facility directly inside the range of Ukraine’s expanding long-distance strike campaign.
The drone wave also reached residential areas. Russian authorities said buildings were damaged in the Moscow region, while about 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a damaged apartment building in Ramenskoye.
The reported death toll in the Moscow region later rose to three, with Russian officials also reporting injuries from the strikes.
Sobyanin called the operation the largest drone attack on Moscow and accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt the parliamentary elections. That was the Russian government’s characterization of the purpose of the attack. Ukraine has described its long-range strikes as attacks on Russian military and logistics infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed strikes in the Moscow region and said Russian oil and logistics facilities supporting the war effort had been targeted.
Ukrainian forces used domestically developed drones and long-range weapons in the operation.
