LONDON — Ukraine launched a whole bunch of drones on Thursday concentrating on greater than a dozen Russian areas, together with Moscow, the place they struck an oil refinery, sending plumes of black smoke into the air over the Russian capital.
Russia’s Ministry of Protection mentioned the nation’s defenses destroyed some 555 drones within the early morning hours. About 180 of these had been shot down as they approached Moscow, the town’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, mentioned in an update in Russian on the Telegram messaging app.
Black smoke rises from the realm of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the south-eastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026.
-/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Ukraine laid declare to the aerial assault, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying it marked the second time inside per week that Kyiv had focused the Moscow Oil Refinery, a sprawling facility within the metropolis’s southeast that’s run by a subsidiary of state-owned Gazprom. Video verified by ABC Information confirmed blasts on the Kapotnya district refinery.
“It is a absolutely justified response to Russian assaults on our cities and communities, and one other vital results of our warriors’ work towards amenities that maintain Russia’s conflict machine,” Zelenskyy of Ukraine said on social media.
The strike ranked among the many largest single-night long-range assaults undertaken by Kyiv because the conflict started greater than 4 years in the past.
A girl walks outdoors a shopping center as black smoke rises from the realm of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026.
-/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Zelenskyy sought in his social publish to place Ukraine’s long-range strikes, which have escalated in latest weeks, as a method to push Moscow towards diplomacy. He mentioned Ukraine’s Western companions have “have famous the precision and effectiveness of our mid-range strikes and long-range sanctions.”
The assault got here within the hours earlier than protection ministers of NATO states had been set to assemble in Brussels, Belgium, for a summit, the place Ukraine’s safety was amongst the topics to be mentioned.
The Moscow public prosecutor’s workplace said “a number of” districts within the metropolis had been attacked by drones on Thursday, claiming there had been harm to condo buildings. The workplace mentioned there have been casualties reported, however didn’t element them.
The world of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the south-eastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026.
-/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Russia’s Division of Protection mentioned it had launched in response a drone-and-missile assault towards “gasoline and vitality amenities utilized by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
ABC Information’ Victoria Beaule, Helena Skinner, Anna Sergeeva, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Jamie Dorrington contributed to this report.
