Drone strikes hit Moscow refinery as fires spread across Russian capital
Large fires broke out across Moscow and the surrounding region after Ukraine launched one of its largest reported drone attacks on the Russian capital, killing two people and injuring others. Russian authorities said drones struck the Moscow oil refinery, residential buildings and a logistics hub, while claiming the attack was intended to disrupt the final day of Russia’s parliamentary election. The strikes came despite a reported US-announced agreement to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
Moscow’s mayor said Russia had destroyed more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 approaching Moscow, although the extent of damage at the refinery remained unclear. About 400 residents, including 70 children, were evacuated from a tower block, while Moscow’s four main airports experienced severe disruption after airspace was closed. The refinery processed 11.6 million tonnes of crude oil in 2024, and previous attacks on Russian refineries have contributed to fuel shortages and higher prices; Ukraine did not comment, and both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
- Major drone attack caused fires and disruption around Moscow.
- Two people were killed, with civilians evacuated from damaged buildings.
- The strikes coincided with Russia’s parliamentary election.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Ukraine's defenders argue that energy infrastructure represents legitimate military-strategic targets that directly sustain Russia's invasion and war-fighting capability; disrupting fuel supplies weakens military operations and is a proportional response to full-scale invasion. They contend that under international humanitarian law, strikes on dual-use infrastructure serving military purposes are permissible, and that Ukraine, as an invaded nation, retains the right to strike military targets within Russian territory to defend its existence.
The case against
Critics emphasise that energy infrastructure also sustains civilian heating, transport, hospitals, and essential services, and that disrupting such systems causes disproportionate civilian harm regardless of military justification. They argue that the reported US-brokered agreement represented a mutual commitment to reduce escalation and establish diplomatic space, and that its violation—whatever Ukraine's strategic reasoning—forecloses de-escalation and deepens the cycle of tit-for-tat strikes, ultimately making negotiated settlement harder to achieve and prolonging civilian suffering on both sides.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Huge fires rage in Moscow as Ukraine strikes Russian capital’s biggest oil refinery in massive drone attack on the last day of election”.