Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Footage of the drone hitting its targets is circulating on social media.
After more than four years of war in Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to shield the Russian public from the fact that their nation is at war.
Even though the Kremlin is still calling the war a “special military operation,” Russian citizens are feeling the effects of high inflation, fuel rationing in some regions, and, even if you live in one of Russia’s largest cities, you can no longer ignore the fact that the country is at war.
Over the course of the war, Ukraine has managed to increase the range of its deep-strike attacks into Russian territory, and, as a recent attack shows, not even the Russian capital of Moscow is safe anymore.
Up in flames
Early on June 16, local time, strike drones targeted the vital Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district, just 15 kilometers from the Kremlin.
Video footage of the blazing facility quickly spread across Telegram channels. Intelligence analysts later verified the strike, which caused a massive fire at the site.
The attack was first announced on Telegram by Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation.
Bracing for impact
Workers tried to prepare for the worst. According to Serhii Sternenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, the facility urgently relieved system pressure before the drones struck.
This refinery is critical to daily life in the capital. It is Moscow’s largest refinery, supplying about 35% of the fuel used across the entire metropolitan area.
The impact is significant. The plant provides 40% of the city’s gasoline, half of its diesel, and essential fuel for local airports, RBC-Ukraine reports.
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Shields prove useless
The strike highlights a major gap in the capital’s heavily guarded airspace. Despite top-tier defense systems, Russia failed to protect the facility.
“Moscow is under attack; the Moscow oil refinery is on fire. Although Putin has pulled virtually all key air defense and missile defense systems to Moscow, this does not save the Russians. Putin is no guarantor of safety for Muscovites,” Kovalenko wrote.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported a massive attack. He claimed that emergency teams shot down roughly 60 incoming drones.
Emergency crews rushed to areas where debris fell, and Sobyanin later confirmed that the refinery had suffered damage from the strike.
Growing drone war
This strike is part of a much broader campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure. Just a day earlier, another successful raid hit a different fuel facility farther south.
Drones struck an oil depot in Poltavskaya, which serves as a vital logistics hub for Lukoil’s regional network.
