UKRAINE PERSPECTIVE

Kyiv, June 18, 2026. In the early hours of June 18, hundreds of Ukrainian drones penetrated Russia's triple ring of air defense systems to strike the Moscow Oil Refinery (MNPZ) in the Kapotnya district, just 15 kilometers from the Kremlin. This marked the second strike on the installation in three days and represented the largest drone attack since the beginning of full-scale warfare, according to Ukrainian media accounts.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin initially reported 137 intercepted drones, then revised the figure upward to 194 aircraft shot down. Despite the defensive efforts, multiple drones reached their targets. Videos circulating online showed thick black columns of smoke rising above the city, visible from numerous neighborhoods across Moscow. Residents of Moscow and surrounding Lyubertsy reported an unusual phenomenon: "oil rain"—hydrocarbon particles depositing on buildings and vehicles in the aftermath of the strike.

The June 18 strike damaged the Euro+ integrated unit, commissioned in 2020 during the refinery's modernization phase. This unit represents 47 percent of the facility's total processing capacity, with a nominal throughput of approximately 140,000 barrels per day. The complex also includes a catalytic reformer and a diesel hydrotreater unit. The June 16 strike had already disabled the CDU-6 unit, which accounts for 53 percent of the refinery's processing capability. The facility processed 11.6 million tons of crude in 2024 and supplies 40 percent of Moscow region gasoline demand and 50 percent of diesel requirements, along with military-grade aviation fuel according to Ukrainska Pravda.

President Volodymyr Zelensky personally confirmed the operation via Telegram. "Last night, our long-range strikes again reached the Moscow region—for the second time this week, the refinery has been hit," he stated. He characterized the attack as "fully justified retaliation for Russian attacks on our cities and communities." The president directly connected the strike to the June 15 Russian assault on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra—a UNESCO-listed heritage site—in which a Shahed drone had ignited the Dormition Cathedral. "You can see that despite the three rings of air defense around Moscow, as we said, we would reach them," he noted according to Kyiv Post. He concluded with a diplomatic message: "It is time for the war to end, and Russia must take necessary steps diplomatically."

The operation also targeted fuel storage depots in the Rostov-on-Don region. Drone fragments damaged the Sadovod shopping center, one of Moscow's largest marketplaces, and rooftops in residential areas including Novye Kotelniki, Zhukovsky, and Lyubertsy. Red Square was temporarily closed to the public.