MOSCOW: A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Moscow following a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital, the BBC reported, in one of the more significant strikes to reach the city’s energy infrastructure.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, 450 drones heading towards the Russian capital were shot down. The scale of the claimed interception points to a large, coordinated launch rather than an isolated raid.
The region’s governor said at least two people were killed and 20 injured in the attack. The city’s central oil refinery was damaged, while several homes caught fire. Neither official gave a breakdown of the casualties or an assessment of how long the refinery would be affected.
Energy infrastructure has become a defining target of the war. Refineries, depots and power facilities have been struck repeatedly by both sides, with each strike carrying consequences that extend beyond the immediate damage — to fuel supply, to insurance costs and to domestic sentiment.
Ukrainian officials said nine people, including three children, were killed in Russian attacks on the Kyiv and Sumy regions on Saturday. The reported deaths of children underline a pattern that has persisted through the conflict, in which residential areas and their inhabitants bear much of the cost of long-range strikes.
Russia vowed on Sunday to “intensify” its strikes on Kyiv in response to Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow, AFP reported. Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to “disrupt the democratic will of Russian citizens” and vowed a response.
The framing is notable. The announcement came as an exit poll showed the ruling United Russia party on course to win tightly controlled parliamentary elections — a vote taking place under conditions that leave little room for organised opposition. Tying the drone attacks to the electoral process allows the strikes to be presented domestically as an attack on the state itself rather than on a military target.
The war’s effects are transmitted through prices in Pakistan. Disruption to Russian refining capacity feeds into global crude and product markets, and any sustained hit to supply tends to surface, eventually, at the pump — a sensitivity that is already acute given warnings that petrol prices could spike sharply if a shortage emerges.
The strikes also reinforce a wider shift in how wars are now fought. Cheap, mass-produced drones can reach a capital city hundreds of kilometres from the front, forcing states to build dense and expensive air defence networks. That lesson is not confined to Europe, such as the region has had its own reminder in the attempted drone attack on Makkah, which drew condemnation across the Muslim world.
Independent verification of casualty and interception figures from either side remains difficult. The claim that 450 drones were downed has not been independently confirmed, nor has the extent of the damage to the refinery. Reporting restrictions in both countries mean early figures are frequently revised.
–With additional input from BBC and AFP
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