The drone strikes mark the second concerted Ukrainian attack on Moscow in three days – and appeared to be in direct response to Putin setting multiple conditions for any ceasefire
Russia: Oil refinery burns after Ukrainian drone strike
Ukraine staged major drone strikes on Moscow which destroyed one of its major oil refineries – soon after accusing Vladimir Putin of trying to thwart Donald Trump’s ceasefire plans.
The industrial site, just 55 miles from the Kremlin dictator’s £1 billion clifftop palace on the Black Sea, was hit in a strike triggering ten huge explosions followed by a massive inferno attended to by 120 firefighters. Vnukovo airport – used by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to depart Moscow on his Gulfstream G650ER business jet after meeting Putin and his top officials – was closed after he left due to the intense drone bombardment.
The drone strikes mark the second concerted Ukrainian attack on Moscow in three days, and appeared to be in direct response to Putin setting multiple conditions for any ceasefire. An area close to Kievskaya station, named after the Ukrainian capital, reportedly came under fire. The area is across Moscow River from both the to the Russian White House, seat of Putin’s government, and the British Embassy.
An explosion was heard in the area of main avenue Kutuzovsky Prospekt at approximately just before 7am. “After the explosion, car alarms went off en masse,” said an eyewitness. This was close to Putin’s usual highway route from his official Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow to the Kremlin. Another hit close to Shabolovskaya metro station, near Leninsky Prospekt.
One strike damaged the roof of a residential block on Kievskaya Street, and the windows of a residential building on Lesteva Street were shattered. A piece of a misfiring Russian Pantsir air defence system was filmed by a passerby in Balashikha, Moscow region.
A private house in Rosinter-2 cottage village southwest of Moscow was also hit. A black-and-white video shows a drone being hit by air defences in Bitsa, south of Moscow, said reports. Khristina Nestoyanova, wife of a Russian diplomat, summed up the mood as the capital was under siege as “that feeling when you wake up in Moscow to the loud sounds of air defence systems amid talk of a 30-day truce”.
The inferno at Tuapse Oil Refinery came after ten deafening explosions. Most reports said drones were used but locals questioned whether it was a missile strike. The strike was further from Ukraine than Putin’s vast Black Sea palace near Gelendzhik in a possible warning to him.
The lavish residence includes a 16-storey underground complex and bunker – built inside the cliff – and likened to the lair of a James Bond villain. Huge flames and thick black smoke rose after the strike and the fire spread to more than 10,765 square feet.
A desperate bid to bring the blaze under control involved more than 120 firefighters. Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said: “The Kyiv regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse. One of the gasoline tanks caught fire. The area of the fire is more than 1,000 square metres, and emergency services are working.
“According to preliminary data, there are no casualties. 121 people and 39 units of equipment are involved in extinguishing the fire. The head of the Tuapse municipal district Sergey Boyko is at the scene of the emergency, reporting on the situation.”
Meanwhile, Putin is not only pushing to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk region, but is also making inroads across the border into a Sumy region. Sabotage and reconnaissance groups are seeking to enter Sumy region along a large stretch of border, said the Ukrainian regions military administration chief.
Putin has previously indicated he wants a buffer zone here. A Russian strike set fire to the roof of a hospital in Zolochiv, Kharkiv region, according to Ukrainian reports. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky had slammed Putin for his “highly predictable and manipulative” reaction to the Trump ceasefire proposal.
“Of course, Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians,” he said. “That’s why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such preconditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long as possible.”
Trump said Putin’s statement on a ceasefire was “promising” but incomplete. Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybil posted: “This is the difference. “Ukraine said ‘yes’ to [the] US ceasefire proposal. Because Ukraine wants peace. Putin, rather than saying ‘yes’, puts forward various conditions.
“Ukraine seeks an end to the war. Putin seeks to continue the war. The rest of his words are just a smokescreen.” Witkoff’s entourage was seen driving into Vnukovo airport shortly before he left Russia for the US after his talks. Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said after special envoy Witkoff’s talks in the Kremlin that the White House is “cautiously optimistic” about the Ukraine peace process.
“I’m not going to announce or discuss anything on national television, especially before the president. But we have some cautious optimism,” he said. “I spoke with my colleague Witkoff, who is there and is providing information for us to evaluate and for President Trump to make decisions about next steps.”
Meanwhile, the US revealed it is ready to supply Ukraine with GLSDB upgraded long-range ‘winged bombs’ as Kyiv’s stockpile of ATACMS missiles runs low. Putin is also under pressure from a fall in oil prices to a level which poses a “headache” to Kremlin revenues and war-funding. On top of this, the US imposed additional restrictions on Russia’s oil, gas and banking sectors, further limiting Russia’s access to U.S. payment systems.