REUTERS

Scores of Ukrainian drones bore down on Moscow yesterday, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for the second time this week in what Kyiv cast as a demonstration of its growing capabilities that should force Russia to accept a peace deal.

Russia, for its part, fired missiles into Kyiv, also for the second time this week, following an attack that damaged Kyiv’s landmark 1,000-year-old monastery and drew international condemnation.

In Moscow, Reuters saw flames and plumes of smoke over the densely populated southeastern district of Kapotnya where the refinery supplying the capital is located.

“Air defense forces continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that a shopping centre also suffered minor damage.

Russia’s defence ministry said 555 drones were shot down across the country. Sobyanin said 180 were shot down around Moscow alone. State news agency TASS said the attack on Moscow was one of the biggest this year.

More than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has increasingly been targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes, while Russia has continued firing missiles at Ukrainian cities.

After years when Russian forces made slow but relentless gains on the battlefield, Kyiv says its improving drone capabilities are shifting the war’s momentum in its favour, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree a peace deal.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’ 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,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attacks on Russia a “totally fair response to Russian strikes on our cities and communities and another important result of the work of our soldiers on facilities that provide support for the Russian war machine.”

An earlier drone strike on Tuesday on Moscow’s refinery had already halted operations there, sources said, adding to widespread damage to Russian energy facilities.