Ukrainian drones breached newly-strengthened air defenses in Moscow and seriously damaged the Kapotnya Oil Refinery in Russia. As world leaders convened in France for the G7 summit, flames engulfed the vital refinery just ten miles from the Kremlin, sending smoke billowing into the skyline.
Strike on Critical Infrastructure
The strike was another blow to the Kremlin, just as a Ukrainian campaign of attacks on oil installations was starting to seriously hurt the Russian economy. Flights were suspended at all four major Moscow airports – Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky – triggering travel chaos.
The surge of drones in the breakfast-time onslaught is one of the heaviest against Moscow in the entire four-year war. The Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a close Putin ally, claimed at least 60 drones had been shot down, but he admitted damage had been caused to the refinery, adding there were no casualties.
‘Over the past 24 hours, enemy drones have continued to attack Moscow. One of the drones damaged a facility at the Moscow Refinery. There were no casualties,’ he added.
Impact on Fuel Supply
The Kapotnya refinery supplies up to 40% of the capital’s overall fuel market and 70% of Moscow and the surrounding region’s petrol needs. The hit came despite recent efforts to strengthen the city’s air defenses. The refinery is the best protected in Russia, yet the defenses were breached.
Elsewhere, a residential building was hit by a downed drone in the suburb of Elektrostal, Moscow, and another hit a building under construction in the Kotelniki district.
Wider Attacks on Russian Oil Infrastructure
Ukraine hit a massive fuel depot in the village of Poltava in Krasnodar region, 240 miles from the frontline, and the key Palkino pumping station on the Baltic Pipeline System in Yaroslavl region, 150 miles north of Moscow.
The constant Ukraine strikes at Russia’s oil hubs are starting to cripple the Russian economy, with fuel rationing or shortages in at least 25 regions.
Political Context
The attacks come after Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on his way to the G7 summit with Western leaders that Putin had rejected a new Ukrainian initiative for peace talks.
‘We offered to meet anywhere where real decisions could be made to end the war. He doesn’t want that,’ he said. ‘We discussed with the US and France the possibility of a meeting with Russia on the sidelines of the G7 summit involving all democratic states, but Putin doesn’t want that either.’
The strike follows a Russian missile and drone blitzkrieg on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday, when five were killed, and massive damage was inflicted on an 11th-century cathedral.
