Ukrainian drone barrage on Moscow kills three: Russia
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The largest Ukrainian drone attack reported so far on the Moscow region has killed three people and damaged part of an oil refinery in the Russian capital, local authorities say.
Ukraine and Russia have continued attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure despite an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that they had agreed to stop.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel that Russia had downed more than 1600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed for Moscow.
“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections,” he said, referring to Russia’s parliamentary elections that started on Friday and ended on Sunday.
“The adversary failed to achieve this.”
Several drones reached the premises of the oil refinery and one hit an apartment building, he said.
Two people were killed in the early-morning attacks and a third died of his injuries later in hospital, the region’s governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram.
In the village of Sofyino, south of Moscow, a body covered in a stained blanket lay in front of a damaged apartment block, the upper windows of which were blown out.
“Glass went flying, people started screaming and shouting. I turned around and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere,” said resident Vitaliy, who gave only his first name.
A facility at the Moscow refinery was damaged in the attack, mayor Sobyanin said according to news agency Interfax.
Reuters witnesses in Moscow heard blasts and saw plumes of smoke billowing from the site of the refinery.
Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia’s oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at service stations in many regions across the country’s 11 time zones.
The Moscow plant, which has been targeted multiple times, processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of petrol and 3.2 million tons of diesel, the latest available data shows.
Ukraine has not commented on the attacks.
Both sides say they do not target civilians.
In the wider Moscow region, 400 people, including 70 children, were forced to flee from a 21-storey apartment block in the Ramenskoye district and a number of homes were damaged, the governor said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had spoken with US President Donald Trump and the two agreed to meet in New York for talks that “could change a lot” in terms of finding a resolution to the four-and-a-half year-old war with Russia.
Zelenskiy said he discussed a range of issues ahead of the meeting, which is expected to take place while both leaders attend the United Nations General Assembly.
“The diplomatic momentum is there,” he said.
Zelenskiy did not give a date for the meeting.
with DPA
Reuters