Russian oil refinery on fire after barrage of Ukrainian drones strike Moscow
Source: the guardian
Scale of long range-attack catches Muscovites by surprise, prompting panicked messages on social media
Peter Beaumont in Pavlograd and Warren Murray
Thu 18 Jun 2026 03.30 EDT
Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow, including setting an oil refinery on fire, sending out flames and towering plumes of smoke over the city and forcing the capital’s airports to suspend flights.
The scale of the long-range attack, apparently designed to shut down operations at the key oil refinery in the Kapotno area, caught most Muscovites by surprise in a city that does not typically warn residents with air raid alarms, and prompted panicked messages on social media.
Footage posted online showed three plumes of smoke rising from the refinery. The strike was the second in two days on the facility, in what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then called “a just response to Russian strikes”.
The Ukrainian strikes came after Kyiv was hit by a major strike of ballistic missiles and drones, in a marked escalation of the air war between Moscow and Kyiv. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had warned of impending “systemic strikes” on Ukraine.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/moscow-oil-refinery-on-fire-ukraine-drone-stikes?CMP=share_btn_url
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⚡️ Zelenskyy on Moscow oil refinery attack: "This is a fully justified response to
Russian attacks on our cities and communities."
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Scale of long range-attack catches Muscovites by surprise, prompting panicked messages on social media
— (@oceancalm.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T09:30:07.941Z
Thu 18 Jun 2026 03.30 EDT
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High-rise building on fire
Building on fire following Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow on Thursday.
Photograph: Social media/Reuters
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