Massive Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow causes multiple fires at Gazprom oil refinery

A massive overnight Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow and the surrounding region has caused multiple fires to break out at the Russian capital’s Kapotnya Oil Refinery, according to Russian Telegram channel Astra, which posted footage of at least five separate blazes in the complex on Thursday.

Owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, the refinery is one of the biggest in Russia and usually processes 40% of the fuel consumed in Moscow and the surrounding region.

“Several drones managed to reach the Moscow Refinery. Measures are being taken to deal with the aftermath,” Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram later on Thursday, adding that as a result of the strikes, the Sadovod shopping centre in central Moscow had also caught on fire, though nobody was injured.

While the shopping centre fire was caused by debris from an intercepted Ukrainian drone, according to Sobyanin, footage of the incident posted online shortly afterwards appeared to show a missile — possibly from Russia’s own air defence systems – striking the facility.

Sobyanin put a brave face on the increasingly regular assault on the Russian capital, stressing that the city’s air defences had intercepted at least 194 drones on their approach to Moscow.

Elsewhere in the city, a residential high-rise building was also struck in the attack, according to Astra, which said that a drone had hit the upper floors of the block. Another high-rise apartment building was struck in the city of Zhukovsky, 40 kilometres outside the capital, Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said, adding that, according to preliminary reports, nobody had been injured.

As a result of the attack, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at Moscow’s four main airports, as civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya temporarily grounded flights at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.