Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the morning of June 18 that drones had attacked the Moscow Oil Refinery, the largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region.
Sobyanin described the incident as a massive drone attack on the Russian capital, claiming that 180 drones had been “shot down on their approach to Moscow.”
However, he said that several drones had managed to reach the refinery in the southeastern Kapotnya district and that measures were being taken to deal with the consequences.
Reports also said debris from intercepted drones fell on the grounds of the nearby Sadovod market, one of Moscow’s largest wholesale and retail markets.
Russian Telegram channels, citing eyewitnesses, reported fires following the attack and thick smoke over the city. Attacks were also reported in Russia’s Rostov and Belgorod regions.
The Russian Telegram channel Astra reported that a strike sparked a fire at an oil refinery in Gukovo, in the Rostov region, while a warehouse containing flammable materials was burning in Shebekino, in the Belgorod region.
Authorities in those regions have not provided details about the facilities that were hit.
The Ukrainian military has not yet commented on the attacks.
The Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya was also struck earlier this week, on June 16.
Following that attack, Reuters, citing two anonymous industry sources, reported that the refinery had suspended operations.
According to Reuters’ sources, the strike on the refinery, owned by Gazpromneft, the oil subsidiary of state-controlled energy giant Gazprom, and located in southeastern Moscow, damaged the primary processing unit responsible for 53 [percent of the plant’s capacity.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on June 16 that the Moscow refinery plays a role in supplying Russia’s military. It said the facility accounts for more than 38 percent of fuel consumption in the Moscow region and supplies aviation fuel to Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports. The refinery usually has an annual processing capacity of more than 12 million tons of oil.
Earlier, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, which has been tracking the deployment of new air defense systems in Moscow and the surrounding region, reported that a tower for a Pantsir air defense system had only recently been installed near the refinery, but had not yet been equipped with the missile system itself.
Ukrainian forces have regularly targeted facilities in Russia’s oil industry.
In late May, Reuters reported that Ukrainian drone attacks had forced nearly all major refineries in central Russia to suspend or reduce production.
Residents of the Belgorod and Ryazan regions, Krasnodar territory and several other parts of Russia have previously complained about shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel.
Fuel sales restrictions have been introduced in a number of regions, including reported limits on gasoline purchases at major filling-station chains in Moscow.
Second Strike In Days Hits Key Moscow Oil Refinery
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