Ukraine launched its “largest ever” drone attack on Moscow overnight according to the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who said at least 450 drones targeting the Russian capital were shot down.
The attacks came on the final day of voting for Russia’s parliamentary elections, which President Putin’s United Russia Party is expected to win. The only anti-war party that registered was banned from standing and opposition activists have been imprisoned.
According to Sobyanin, drones hit the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building in the city. Two people were killed and six injured in the attacks, according to Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyev in a post on social media platform Telegram.
These were reportedly an elderly man in the Orekhovo-Zuevo district and a 44-year-old woman in Sofyino, to the south-west of Moscow.
Vorobyev said 249 drones had been shot down in the wider Moscow region and a number of homes had been set on fire.
Flights to and from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport were suspended following the strikes but have since resumed.
In a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks had hit “one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility.”
The president shared footage which appears to show a burning oil facility though its authenticity has not been independently confirmed by Newsweek. Zelensky added: “Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions. Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security. What is needed is political will.”
It came after Ukrainian authorities said eight people, three of whom were children, were killed on Saturday in the Kyiv and Sumy regions by Russian attacks.
Newsweek contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Ministries of Foreign Affairs for comment via email.
Strikes on Logistics and Energy Infrastructure
Ukraine has launched a wave of attacks targeting Russian oil infrastructure, a key component of the Russian economy, in recent months. According to the International Energy Agency this has resulted in Russia’s refining capacity falling to its lowest level in 20 years while fuel shortages have been reported at some gas stations.
Separately, Ukrainian drone strikes have destroyed numerous warehouses belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries. Ukraine says the company provides drone components for the Russian military which Moscow denies.
Russian drones and missiles have struck Ukrainian infrastructure and businesses with one attack on a shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih killing 16 in late August.
Speaking to the BBC, De Croo, a senior UN official, said Ukraine is likely to face its “toughest winter” later this year with danger of a “humanitarian catastrophe” due to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian Counteroffensive
Fierce fighting has continued across the frontline with a particular focus on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is also claimed by Russia.
Earlier this month a Ukrainian counteroffensive was launched against a Russian salient near the battle-scarred city of Lyman. Speaking to Newsweek Giorgi Revishvili, a military analyst who runs the Substack Russia Analyzed, said: “Ukrainian forces have effectively eliminated the Russian salient north of Lyman.”
Earlier this week President Trump signed a sanctions bill, named after deceased South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, imposing tariffs of up to 100 percent on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas. It also targeted Russia linked banks and oil tankers and President Putin personally.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Cristina Diciu.