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Ukraine strikes key Moscow oil refinery for the second time in a week

18 June 2026 09:13 (UTC +04:00)

Ukraine struck a key oil refinery in Moscow early Thursday morning for the second time this week, Russian officials said, as Kyiv increasingly targets Russian energy infrastructure in long-range attacks, CNN reports.

Several drones hit the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeastern district of Kapotnya, said Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of the Russian capital city, on Telegram, according to Reuters. More than four dozen drones heading toward Moscow were downed, he said.

“Air defense forces continue to repel a massive attack,” he added.

Video geolocated by CNN showed the moment of an explosion at the refinery. In the video, thick black smoke can be seen billowing from a section of the facility before a large explosion rocks another part of complex, blowing the roof of a large fuel tank container into the air.

An apartment building in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, was also hit by a drone, according to Russian state media TASS, citing Moscow regional Gov. Andrey Vorobyov.

The strike damaged the building and some balconies, but there were no casualties, he said. Drone debris also fell in several other locations outside the capital, damaging a fitness center, an industrial facility, a shopping center (where a fire began), and a private home, he said.

Further south in Russia’s Rostov region, a separate drone attack on Thursday killed one civilian and injured two others, as well as damaging a locomotive and causing fires at two commercial facilities, said regional governor Yury Slyusar, according to TASS.

Thursday’s Moscow strike comes after a drone strike “damaged a facility on the grounds” of the same refinery on Tuesday, Sobyanin said at the time.

After Tuesday’s strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s military had used long-range weapons to hit facilities “500 kilometers away,” framing Kyiv’s intensified attacks deep into Russian territory as a key strategy in forcing Moscow to end its war.