A Ukrainian drone struck the Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district early June 16, igniting a fire at the Gazprom Neft-owned facility roughly 9 miles from the Kremlin and forcing operations to suspend. Group of Seven (G7) leaders convened in Évian-les-Bains, France, to discuss squeezing Russia’s energy revenue.
Ukrainian long-range drones have just struck an oil refinery in Moscow.
The refinery, which has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day and is the main supplier of fuel for the Moscow region, is now on fire. pic.twitter.com/vgBeQ04Q3x
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 16, 2026
Sources told Reuters the strike hit the ELOU AVT-6, the refinery’s primary crude distillation unit, accounting for 53% of the plant’s capacity. The facility processes approximately 11 million tons of crude per year and supplies an estimated 40% of Moscow’s gasoline, half its diesel, and fuel for the capital’s airports.
Before the strike was confirmed, the refinery conducted an emergency pressure release across its system to reduce explosion risk, according to Serhii Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister. The precaution did not prevent the damage.
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), 1st Centre, conducted the operation in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Special Operations Forces, and military intelligence, traveling approximately 310 miles from Ukrainian-held territory and penetrating four layers of Russian air defense.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that air defenses intercepted approximately 60 drones and acknowledged one had “damaged a Moscow oil refinery facility.” No casualties were reported.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Center for Countering Disinformation, said the result exposed the limits of Moscow’s air shield. “Although Putin has pulled practically all the key air-defense and missile-defense systems to Moscow, it does not save the Russians,” Kovalenko said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky tied the strike to a Russian assault the previous night that deployed more than 600 drones and 70 missiles across Ukraine, killed at least 11 people, and damaged the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “Russia must be forced to end the war against our people,” Zelensky said.
