LONDON — Plumes of smoke rose over Moscow on Sunday morning after Ukraine’s newest massed drone assault on the town wherein a serious oil refinery was among the many targets, in keeping with the Russian capital’s mayor.
Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated in posts to Telegram that 450 Ukrainian drones have been shot down whereas heading towards the capital on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, describing the newest assault as “unprecedented.”
“A number of drones did attain the territory of the Moscow Oil Refinery, and one hit a residential constructing. There have been no fatalities,” Sobyanin wrote, suggesting that the assault was “clearly deliberate to disrupt” the continuing Russian parliamentary elections, voting wherein is because of finish on Sunday.
The Gazprom-MNPZ refinery sits southeast of Moscow metropolis and is operated by the state-run vitality large Gazprom. The ability has a reported processing capability of round 11 million tons of oil per 12 months, making it one of many nation’s largest such websites.
Smoke rises from the realm of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery as seen from Dzerzhinsky within the Moscow area on Sept. 20, 2026.
-/AFP through Getty Photographs
Andriy Kovalenko, the pinnacle of the Counter-Disinformation Heart working as a part of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, stated in a put up to Telegram {that a} “main incident is going on” on the refinery, which he stated “provides gasoline to their capital metropolis.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in a put up to Telegram that Kyiv’s long-range strikes “had a really vital influence within the Moscow area final evening,” reporting successful on “certainly one of Russia’s key oil business services” which he stated contributes “billions of {dollars}” to Russia’s “warfare machine.”
“Moscow should finish its brutal warfare and select peace as an alternative of constructing layered rings of air protection on the expense of different areas,” Zelenskyy wrote.
The governor of the Moscow area, Andrey Vorobyov, reported in a put up to Telegram that one individual was killed and 5 others injured when a drone hit an residence block in Sofino, to the southwest of Moscow metropolis.
One other individual was killed within the Orekhovo-Zuevsky space to the east of the capital, Vorobyov stated, with one individual additionally injured within the southern Leninsky district.
A complete of 20 folks have been injured within the assaults, Vorobyov stated.
A view reveals a broken multi-storey residence constructing following a drone assault in Kotelniki within the Moscow area on Sept. 20, 2026.
-/AFP through Getty Photographs
Vorobyov additionally reported a fireplace at an residence constructing within the Ramensky district to the southwest of the capital — which prompted an evacuation of 400 folks and harm to twenty automobiles — a fireplace at a warehouse complicated in Sofino and a “severe hearth” at an residence constructing in Kotelniki, southeast of Moscow.
All 4 of Moscow’s worldwide airports — Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo — have been put below short-term flight restrictions in a single day, in keeping with Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s federal air transport company. The restrictions have been lifted on Sunday morning.
Russia’s Protection Ministry stated it shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones in a single day — the biggest in a single day determine ever reported by the ministry, in keeping with ABC Information evaluation of its Telegram statements.
Ukraine’s air power, in the meantime, stated Russia launched 138 drones into the nation in a single day, of which 101 have been intercepted or in any other case suppressed. Round half of the drones launched have been jet-powered, the air power stated. Impacts have been reported in 17 places, the air power added.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service stated that three folks — amongst them two youngsters — have been killed in a Russian assault on the Kyiv area.
A view reveals a broken residence constructing following a drone assault in Kotelniki within the Moscow area on Sept. 20, 2026.
-/AFP through Getty Photographs
