Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow on Thursday, hitting the Russian capital\u2019s oil refinery for the second time this week in what Kyiv cast as a response to an attack that damaged a nearly 1,000-year-old monastery in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want this war, we never did, and everyone knows it, and our partners know it,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a voice message sent to reporters on a WhatsApp group. \u201cBut if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia, for its part, fired missiles into Kyiv, also for the second time this week, following the attack that damaged the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery and drew international condemnation. Russia denied striking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that several drones managed to reach the refinery, adding that a shopping centre also suffered minor damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s defense 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyy confirmed the attack on the refinery. Ukraine\u2019s military said that Ukrainian forces also hit an oil depot in Russia\u2019s southern Rostov region and another two bridges as Kyiv intensifies its campaign to hamper Russia\u2019s logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than four years since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has increasingly been targeting Russia\u2019s energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes, while Russia has continued firing missiles at Ukrainian cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After years when Russian forces made slow but relentless gains on the battlefield, Kyiv says its improving drone capabilities are shifting the war\u2019s momentum in its favor, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree a peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyy has launched a diplomatic push to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is \u2018What is going on?\u2019 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\u2019s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow, which says Ukraine is losing, has demanded Kyiv cede its territory before it will discuss peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that Ukraine\u2019s latest attacks on Russia are pushing back the prospect of any direct contacts between President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, the Interfax news agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyy called the attacks on Russia a \u201ctotally 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A drone strike on Tuesday on Moscow\u2019s refinery had already halted operations there, sources said, adding to widespread damage to Russian energy facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia, the world\u2019s third-biggest oil producer and a major oil and fuel exporter, is set to import fuel by sea this month as it seeks to manage a gasoline shortage following Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries, according to industry sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the surrounding Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility and a number of private houses were damaged in the drone attack, which also injured 16 people, the regional governor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flights were suspended at all Moscow airports and traffic shut on the highway around the capital near the refinery. Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow\u2019s busiest, said it had been evacuated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in Russia, officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in his car in the Belgorod border region, and a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and caused a fire at two commercial facilities in the Rostov region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile explosions rang out in Kyiv and airstrike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv\u2019s military administration, said Russia was attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. There were no further reports from the authorities on damage or casualties in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack overnight, while a man was killed and a further 11 people were injured in a Russian attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro early on Thursday, the regional governor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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