In Moscow, an oil refinery in the Kapotnya district in the south-east of the city is on fire following an attack by Ukrainian drones, according to local authorities. Numerous videos showing the fire are being shared by Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels.
The footage also captures the moment the drone arrived.
The mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, confirmed that “one of the UAVs damaged a facility at the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya”. According to him, there were no casualties.
Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations subsequently stated that the fire had been “contained”.
Overnight, Sobyanin reported that dozens of drones had been shot down as they approached Moscow. Moscow’s airports were closed.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, claims that the ELOU AVT-6 – a primary oil refining unit – is on fire, “on which the refinery’s ability to operate depends”.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is not yet able to verify the claims made by the parties involved.
Meanwhile, in the Krasnodar Krai, in the village of Poltavskaya, a fire broke out at an oil depot following a drone attack. This was reported by the local emergency response centre; there were no reports of casualties.
The previous large-scale attack on Moscow took place on the night of 17 May, when 12 people were injured after a drone struck the area around the refinery’s entrance gate. However, no fire at the refinery was reported at the time.
The Ukrainian military has not yet commented on today’s attack.