Large plume of smoke seen from site of Moscow refinery after drone attacks

Reuters. A Ukrainian drone attack damaged the Moscow oil refinery, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday (June 18). Video published on social media shows the aftermath of the strike. 

Reuters confirmed the location from the buildings, road layout, utility poles and parking lot layout which matched archive and satellite imagery of the area. The date was verified by a statement of Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, confirming attack on nearby oil refinery and that Moscow downed dozens of drones on Thursday (June 18). 

Moscow downed over five dozen drones on Thursday (June 18), Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, and a Reuters witness saw flames and plumes of smoke over the southeastern district of Kapotnya where the Moscow refinery is located.

“Air defence forces continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Sobyanin said, adding that a shopping centre also suffered minor damage.

The attack is the second in just a few days after a drone strike on Tuesday (June 16) halted operations at the refinery, sources said, adding to widespread damage to Russian energy facilities and extending a fuel crisis deeper into the country.

Russia, the world’s third-biggest oil producer and a major oil and fuel exporter, is set to import fuel by sea this month as it seeks to manage a gasoline shortage following extensive Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries, according to industry sources.

In the surrounding Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility and a number of private houses were also damaged in the drone attack, the regional governor said.