Clouds of black smoke rise over Moscow after Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery

Ukraine hit a major Moscow oil refinery for a second time in a week and disrupted commercial flights at the city’s airports in one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, Russian officials said Thursday.

The attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France, and had won key pledges of further support from the G7 summit this week.

Zelenskyy was expected in Brussels later Thursday for talks with NATO and European Union leaders, including discussions about the possible building of a continental system to protect against ballistic missiles. Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defenses struggle to counter.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia’s oil facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X: “One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’ I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

Images and video released by the Russian media showed massive fires raging at the Moscow Oil Refinery, located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Thick black clouds of smoke rose over the city.

The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its official website, and produces more than a third of the Moscow region’s fuel. It was last attacked by Ukrainian drones on Tuesday, catching fire, but officials said the blaze was swiftly put out.

Flights from four Moscow airports were temporarily halted, transport and aviation authorities said.

In the Moscow region, which surrounds but does not include the capital city, a drone hit a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky, and the building was being evacuated, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov.

Buildings elsewhere in the region were damaged by drone debris and 16 people, including two children, were wounded, according to Vorobyov.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they were approaching the Russian capital.

That was roughly double the number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

The attack was the latest embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a Ukrainian drone attack on his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month just as he held a showcase economic forum in the city with foreign VIP visitors.

Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the nations of the regional bloc.

Zelenskyy said the attack on Moscow was part of Ukraine’s efforts to force Putin to the negotiating table. The Ukrainian president has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump but Putin has refused, and U.S.-led peace efforts have petered out.

“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” he added in a voice message to a group chat with journalists.

As well as pledges of more diplomatic and military help at the G7 summit, Ukraine recently has gained momentum on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army thanks to its high-tech drones, Western officials and analysts say.

Longer-range drone strikes are choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, in addition to disrupting Russian oil production.

Macron said the G7 summit was “very important for Ukraine” because its supporters — crucially including the United States — vowed to help it, although the French president provided no details. The U.S. under Trump has cut back assistance to Ukraine, leaving the Europeans as the biggest suppliers of military and financial aid. Trump and Zelenskyy have had an at times strained relationship.

“America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important,” Macron told reporters as he and Trump left the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

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