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. Several drones hit the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeastern district of Kapotnya, said Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of the Russian capital city.
Details of the Attack
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.
Global Implications
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 Zelensky 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.
Ukraine has launched extensive drone attacks against Russian refineries and military facilities in recent months, with targets including naval facilities, oil depots and terminals. Some attacks took place in the Leningrad region, where St. Petersburg recently hosted a global economic forum often dubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s version of Davos.
Russia’s state budget relies on oil earnings for at least one-third of its revenue, according to analysts. Since the Ukraine war began, the pool of buyers for Russian oil has shrunk, thanks to stricter sanctions from the European Union and Washington – though the Iran war proved to be a windfall, with Moscow benefiting from surging global fuel prices and eased sanctions.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
