Dozens of Ukrainian drones hit Moscow refinery, disrupt airports

Dozens of Ukrainian long-range drones reached Moscow overnight, setting off a fire at the Gazpromneft-owned refinery in Kapotnya and forcing temporary flight restrictions at all four of the capital’s international airports. The strike underscored how far the war has pushed into the Russian capital’s daily life, where air-defense alerts and airport shutdowns have become part of a widening pattern rather than a one-off shock.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the attack continued over the past 24 hours and that one drone damaged a facility on the territory of the Moscow Refinery. He said there were no casualties. By morning, the restrictions that had disrupted Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky were lifted, restoring traffic after an overnight scramble.

The refinery, which sits in Moscow’s Kapotnya district, is owned by Gazpromneft. The damage there, and the fire that followed, highlighted the vulnerability of energy infrastructure even deep inside Russia’s biggest city. Russian authorities have repeatedly described such incidents as intercepted drone raids, but the repeated reach of Ukraine’s long-range attacks has also forced Moscow to respond publicly, quickly and on a large scale.

TASS described the June 16 strike as one of the largest drone attacks on Moscow this year. Meduza reported that 60 drones were shot down on approach to the capital after 5 a.m., illustrating the scale of the air-defense effort around the city. Even when Russian officials say the drones are intercepted, the repeated need to close airports and raise alarms suggests a steady erosion of the sense that Moscow sits safely beyond the war.

That shift matters politically as much as operationally. Earlier major drone attacks on Moscow in 2026 have already caused airport closures and, in some cases, fatalities in the Moscow region. Each wave has reinforced a message from Kyiv that Russian military and energy infrastructure is within reach, while also pressuring Moscow to show that it can protect the capital, keep airports open and contain the conflict. The latest raid suggests that the contest over domestic security in Russia is becoming as visible as the battlefield itself.