A fire erupted at an oil refinery in the Kapotnya district of southeastern Moscow after a drone strike, according to local officials. Videos circulating on Ukrainian monitoring channels captured the blaze and the moment of the drone’s impact.
Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed that one of the drones had damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya but reported no casualties. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations later announced that the fire had been contained.
During the night, Sobyanin stated that dozens of drones were intercepted as they approached the city, leading to the temporary closure of Moscow’s airports. Andriy Kovalенко, head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, claimed that the fire was affecting the ELOU AVT-6, a primary oil processing unit critical for the refinery’s operations.
As of now, the editorial team at Radio Free Europe is unable to verify the claims from either side. Meanwhile, a separate drone attack in the Krasnodar region resulted in a fire at an oil depot in the settlement of Poltavskaya, although no injuries have been reported.
This incident follows a previous large-scale drone attack on Moscow on May 17, which injured 12 people when a drone struck near the refinery’s entrance. However, there were no reports of a fire at that time.
The Ukrainian military has not commented on today’s attack. Regular strikes on Russian oil industry targets have been reported, with a late May Reuters report indicating that nearly all major refineries in central Russia had to halt or reduce production due to drone attacks.
Residents in regions such as Belgorod, Ryazan, and Krasnodar have previously complained about shortages of gasoline and diesel at fuel stations. Many areas have implemented restrictions on fuel sales, including limits on gasoline at major gas station networks in Moscow.
A drone attack on a Moscow oil refinery has sparked a significant fire, with local authorities confirming damage but no reported injuries. This incident is part of a broader pattern of Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure, leading to fuel shortages in various regions.