Russia’s state TV channels avoid coverage of Ukraine’s largest ever drone attack on Moscow

Following the largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin-controlled domestic television channels devoted only a few seconds of airtime to the aftermath of the strikes. Rossiya 1 and Perviy Kanal (“Channel One”) limited their coverage to brief summaries about downed drones, while NTV did not mention the attack at all in its morning news broadcast, according to a report by the outlet Vot Tak. State-controlled outlet TASS, on the other hand, did note that the overnight drone attack was the largest to hit Moscow in the past two years.

The effects of the strike were visible far beyond the impact sites, even if they remained invisible to the television audience. After an attack on the Moscow Oil Refinery in the district of Kapotnya, thick smoke rose over the southeast regions of the capital. It could be seen from various parts of the city, including the Moscow City business district.

The attack received only a few seconds of coverage in Rossiya 1’s 9 a.m. broadcast. The anchors summarized Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s statement about downed drones and a hit on the Moscow refinery. The message was shown on screen as text, and the channel showed no photographs or footage of the damage. The segment on the attack was squeezed between a report on what the channel called a Ukrainian “terrorist” strike on a bus in the Bryansk region and a report on Russian strikes against Ukraine. The broadcast then turned to Vladimir Putin’s participation in the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan.

Channel One also opened its broadcast with a report on the Bryansk Region, devoting about four minutes to a story on injured children. Only afterward did the anchor read Sobyanin’s summary about downed drones and strikes on the Sadovod market and the Moscow refinery, spending about 20 seconds on the item. The channel then briefly reported damage in the Moscow Region, citing governor Andrei Vorobyov, who mentioned a drone hit on a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky and damage to a shopping center. The broadcast then returned to Russian strikes on Ukraine.

NTV did not mention the attack on Moscow at all in its 8 a.m. morning broadcast. The channel focused mainly on the opening of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan. Its report on the forum and Putin’s participation in it took up almost seven minutes of airtime.

Ukrainian open source intelligence (OSINT) projects, for their part, said the strike may have hit production units at the Moscow Oil Refinery, including catalytic cracking and visbreaking facilities. It was the third attack on the facility in less than a month and the second in recent days. Reuters reported that the refinery suspended operations after a previous strike on June 16.

During the raid, all airports in the Moscow aviation hub temporarily suspended operations, leading hundreds of flights to be delayed. Passengers were evacuated from Sheremetyevo Airport, and access to terminals was restricted.