Ukraine drone strike hits Moscow refinery, shopping centre burns

A refinery and a shopping centre burned in south-east Moscow after a mass Ukrainian drone strike that Russian officials described as the largest on the capital since the start of the full-scale war. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 194 drones were shot down on approach to the city, while several residential high-rise blocks were evacuated and the capital’s air traffic was thrown into chaos.

The Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya was hit again, reportedly for the third time in a month and the second time this week. The facility is a Gazprom-owned plant and one of the main fuel suppliers for Moscow and the surrounding region, which made the strike especially sensitive for the Kremlin. A nearby shopping centre also caught fire after drone debris fell on the building, turning the attack into a visible reminder that the war was reaching deep into the Russian capital’s daily life.

Flight restrictions were imposed across Moscow’s aviation system, with all four airports temporarily shut and hundreds of flights cancelled or delayed. Russian officials said the broader overnight assault also struck targets in the Moscow region and other parts of Russia, and one report said 17 people were wounded in the Moscow region. Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted almost 1,000 drones and four cruise missiles nationwide overnight, underscoring the scale of the barrage and the strain it placed on Russian air defences.

The strike came amid a sharp escalation in long-range attacks between Moscow and Kyiv, following a major Russian attack on Kyiv earlier in the week. Volodymyr Zelensky described Ukrainian long-range strikes as “long-range sanctions” and said Russia needed to move toward diplomacy, framing the campaign as both military pressure and political leverage.

Ukraine’s first successful drone strikes on Moscow reached the capital in spring 2023, but the attacks have grown larger and more frequent as Kyiv has expanded its long-range drone capability. In May 2026, a major strike on the Moscow area killed three people and wounded 16, and Russian authorities later tightened controls on publishing images of drone strike aftermaths. The latest assault pushed that pattern further, showing a war that is not only hitting military targets but puncturing the sense of distance and safety around Moscow itself.