Ukrainian drones strike Moscow refinery, disrupt flights across Russia

Dozens of Ukrainian long-range drones struck Moscow overnight into Tuesday morning, hitting a facility at the Moscow Refinery in the Kapotnya district and forcing flight restrictions across the capital’s aviation network. Sergey Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said there were no casualties and that emergency services were working at the site.

The refinery, owned by Gazpromneft, is one of Russia’s largest and processes about 11 million tons of oil a year. Video circulating online appeared to show fire and black smoke over the facility, but the more consequential effect was operational: Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky all faced restrictions, while Rosaviatsiya also imposed limits at more than a dozen airports in southern and western Russia.

The attack marked the ninth straight day of Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow, according to Sobyanin’s Telegram posts. He said the number of drones downed on Tuesday was the largest since May 17, a sign that Moscow is facing not just isolated raids but a sustained pressure campaign. This year, Sobyanin has said 1,134 Ukrainian drones have been intercepted around Moscow, more than the 734 he reported for all of 2025.

That tempo points to a broader strategic calculation in Kyiv. Ukraine has been expanding long-range drone attacks toward Moscow as part of what officials call “long-range sanctions,” using strikes on oil infrastructure and transport nodes to impose costs far from the front line. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian long-range weapons are an important part of forcing Russia to end the war, and he described the strikes as a “just response” to Russian attacks and to the prolongation of the conflict.

The latest raid also came after a major Russian strike on Kyiv a day earlier that killed at least five people, damaged a historic cathedral and drew a furious response from Ukrainian officials. Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, called Vladimir Putin a “barbarian.” The escalation underscores how drone warfare has become both a battlefield tool and a political message, with each side trying to stretch the other’s air defenses, disrupt civilian life and shape the terms of any future negotiations. In mid-May, Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in a single day, killing four people in the Moscow and Belgorod regions, a level of pressure that shows no sign of easing.