Ukrainian drones set a Moscow refinery ablaze in a major attack on the
Russian capital
[June 19, 2026]
By BARRY HATTON
Ukraine struck a major Moscow oil refinery Thursday for a second time in
a week, sending huge plumes of black smoke over the capital and
disrupting hundreds of flights at its airports in one of its biggest
drone attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion over four years ago,
officials said.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut
Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of
the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.
The attack by dozens of drones came hours after Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call”
with the presidents of the United States and France and had won key
pledges of further support from this week's G7 summit.
“If Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too," Zelenskyy
said, adding that the attack was part of Kyiv's effort to bring Russian
President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. "It is time to end
the aggression, time to end this war.”
Ukrainian attack embarrasses Putin again
The Moscow attack was the latest embarrassment for Putin. Ukrainian
drones attacked his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month as he
welcomed foreign VIPs to his showcase economic forum in the city.
Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of
Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as
Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the regional bloc.
Russia’s state-controlled TV channels only briefly mentioned the attack
on Moscow. Pro-Kremlin newspapers reported it, with some praising the
performance of air defenses while noting that the strike highlighted the
need to further strengthen the defensive shield around the capital.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament,
warned that Moscow would respond by ramping up its strikes.
“Their action will lead to our counteraction and launching harsher
blows, with more powerful weapons,” Volodin said in televised remarks.
Some Russian hawks urged the Kremlin to respond with nuclear weapons.
Nationalist Konstantin Malofeyev criticized the military for “fighting
at half-strength in a gentlemanlike way.”
“War means victory at any cost,” Malofeyev wrote on his Telegram
channel, suggesting the use of “the nuclear weapons that our ancestors
created and stockpiled while mobilizing the entire country’s strength
precisely for this purpose -– to win."
Fires rage at Moscow refinery
Thick, black smoke and occasional flames spewed from the Moscow Oil
Refinery amid its red-and-white smokestacks on the southeastern edge of
the city, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Sooty, black
rain fell on cars, according to local video.
“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is
‘What is going on?’" Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a
post on X. "I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression
against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you
know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”
The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its website,
producing more than a third of the Moscow region's fuel. It was last
attacked by Ukraine on Tuesday, but officials said that fire was swiftly
put out.
Thursday's fire at the refinery was “largely contained,” Moscow Mayor
Sergei Sobyanin said hours afterward, adding that remaining hotspots
were being extinguished.
As Ukraine pressed its strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, fuel
supplies appeared to be under strain. Gas station chains in multiple
regions have introduced restrictions on what drivers could buy. Russian
independent news outlet Agentstvo reported that one out of every four
gas stations has introduced some kind of restrictions.
Authorities in the capital said in a statement hours after the attack
that “supplies of oil products to Moscow and the work of all gas
stations in the city continue as normal.”
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This photo provided by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's
official telegram channel shows firefighters extinguish a burning
car after a Ukrainian drone attack outside Moscow on Thursday, June
18, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official
telegram channel via AP)
The attack also temporarily halted flights from four Moscow
airports, transport and aviation authorities said. The Russian
business daily Kommersant counted more than 500 delayed or canceled
flights at the airports, based on their online flight information.
In the greater Moscow region, a drone hit a residential building in
the town of Zhukovsky, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. Buildings
elsewhere were damaged by drone debris, injuring 17 people,
including two children, he added.
Ukraine seeks more help from NATO, EU
“Russia is on the back foot: militarily, economically and
politically,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X after
meeting Thursday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
“Now is the time to provide Ukraine with even greater support and to
exert even more pressure on Russia to end the war.”
Zelenskyy held talks Thursday in Brussels with NATO and European
Union leaders, and the German and Ukrainian defense ministers signed
an agreement to jointly develop an air defense system to counter
ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy described it as the start of an
“anti-ballistic missile coalition” and invited others to join.
Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles,
which air defenses struggle to counter.
Russia says it downed over 500 Ukrainian drones
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight shot
down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200
intercepted as they approached Moscow. That was roughly double the
number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight,
according to the Ukrainian air force.
“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we
will not sit quietly — we will respond,” Zelenskyy said in a voice
message to a group chat with journalists.
He has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S.
President Donald Trump, but Putin has refused, and U.S.-led peace
efforts have fizzled.
Ukraine disrupts Russian supply lines
Along with pledges of more diplomatic and military help at the G7
summit, Ukraine recently has gained momentum on the battlefield
against Russia’s bigger army, thanks to its high-tech drones,
Western officials and analysts say. Longer-range drones are choking
Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, in addition to
disrupting oil production.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the G7 summit was “very
important for Ukraine” because its supporters — crucially including
the U.S. — vowed to help it, although he provided no details. The
U.S. under Trump has cut back assistance to Ukraine, leaving the
Europeans as the biggest suppliers of military and financial aid.
Trump and Zelenskyy have had a sometimes strained relationship.
“America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important,” Macron said
as he and Trump left the Palace of Versailles near Paris.
In other developments Thursday, Russia struck the city of Sumy in
northeastern Ukraine with two glide bombs that killed a 64-year-old
man who was fishing in a river, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the
regional military administration. A Russian strike on the central
city of Dnipro killed one man and wounded nine, said Oleksandr
Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.
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