Two dead in Moscow region, drones hit oil refinery in Russian capital

MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) – The largest Ukrainian drone attack reported so far on Moscow region killed two people and damaged part of an oil refinery in the capital, authorities said on Sunday, as Russia enters the final day of parliamentary elections. 

Ukraine and Russia have continued attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure despite an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that they had agreed to stop.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel that Russia had downed more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed for Moscow.

“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections,” he said. “The adversary failed to achieve this.”

Several drones reached the premises of the oil refinery and one hit an apartment building, he said.

In the village of Sofyino, south of Moscow, a body covered in a stained blanket lay in front of a damaged apartment block, the upper windows of which were blown out.

“Glass went flying, people started screaming and shouting. I turned around, and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere,” said resident Vitaliy, who gave only his first name. 

A facility at the Moscow refinery was damaged in the attack, Mayor Sobyanin  said, without giving further details, news agency Interfax reported.

Reuters witnesses in Moscow heard blasts and saw plumes of smoke billowing from the site of the refinery.

Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia’s oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at filling stations in many regions across the country’s 11 time zones.

The Moscow plant, which has been targeted multiple times, processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of gasoline and 3.2 million tons of diesel, the latest available data shows.

Ukraine has not commented on the attacks. Both sides say they do not target civilians.

In the wider Moscow region, in addition to the two deaths, 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-storey apartment block in the Ramenskoye district and a number of homes were damaged, said Governor Andrei ​Vorobyov.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru, Reuters bureaux; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Lincoln Feast and William Mallard, Kirsten Donovan)