Federal channels almost did not notice the largest drone attack on Moscow - “That’s So”

After another Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow, federal television channels devoted only a few seconds of airtime to the consequences of the raid. Rossiya 1 and Channel One limited themselves to short reports about downed drones, and NTV did not mention the attack at all in its morning news broadcast. The publication “That’s So” drew attention to this. At the same time, TASS claims that this is the largest drone attack on Moscow in the last two years.

The consequences of the impact were visible far beyond the impact sites. After the attack on the Moscow oil refinery, thick smoke rose over the southeast of the capital, which was visible from different parts of the city, including the Moscow City business center.

In the episode of Russia 1, released at 09:00 Moscow time, only a few seconds were devoted to the topic of the attack. The presenters recounted the message of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin about the downed drones and the hit at the Moscow Oil Refinery. The message was displayed on the screen in text, but the TV channel did not show any footage of the consequences of the attack, photographs of damage or filming of the fire.

The story about the attack was sandwiched between a story about a “terrorist” strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a bus in the Bryansk region and a report about Russian strikes on Ukraine. After this, the broadcast switched to Vladimir Putin’s participation in the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan.

Channel One also started broadcasting with a story about the Bryansk region. About four minutes were devoted to reporting on the injured children. Only after this, the presenter read out Sobyanin’s report in about twenty seconds about the downed drones, the hit on the Sadovod market and the Moscow oil refinery.

Then the channel briefly reported on damage in the Moscow region with reference to Governor Andrei Vorobyov - in particular, about a drone hitting a residential building in Zhukovsky and damaging a shopping center. After this, the broadcast again returned to the topic of Russian attacks on Ukraine.

NTV in its morning broadcast, released at 08:00, did not mention the attack on Moscow at all. The channel focused on the opening of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan. The story about the forum and Vladimir Putin’s participation in it took up almost seven minutes of airtime.

Meanwhile, the attack itself became one of the largest for Moscow in recent years. The Moscow region was also under attack: authorities reported damage to an apartment building in Zhukovsky, as well as private and country houses in several districts of the Moscow region.

Judging by the published photos and videos, the Moscow oil refinery again became one of the main targets of the attack. Ukrainian OSINT projects claim that not only tanks, but also production units, including catalytic cracking and viscosity breaking, could be affected.

This is the third attack on the Moscow oil refinery in less than a month and the second in the last few days. According to Reuters, after the previous strike on June 16, the company suspended operations.

During the raid, operations at all airports in the Moscow air hub were temporarily suspended. At Sheremetyevo, passengers were evacuated, and access to the terminals was limited.