Ukraine strikes Russian oil plants in Moscow, Black Sea region
by Paul Godfrey · UPIJune 16 (UPI) -- Ukrainian drones struck oil plants in Moscow and Russia's southern Krasnodar Krai region overnight. The attacks coincided with a meeting of G7 leaders in France, with the war high on the agenda.
Dozens of drones targeted Moscow with at least one hitting the Moscow Oil Refinery but no one was killed or injured, said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin who provided no details of damage to the plant.
Sobyanin said air defenses had downed or intercepted 60 drones targeting Moscow in what the state-run TASS news agency called one of the largest attacks on the capital of 2026.
The Gazprom-owned plant in the southeast of the city -- responsible for delivering more than one-third of the fuel needs of the capital, as well as jet fuel and other refined products -- has been hit twice previously by Ukraine in May and in September 2024.
The attack in Krasnodar set an oil depot ablaze near Poltavskaya village, 50 miles northwest of Krasnodar city, with authorities saying there were no deaths or injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike on Moscow was in retaliation for recent deadly Russian airborne assaults against Ukraine, including large-scale missile and drone strikes across central and eastern regions of the country early Monday that killed 11 people and damaged a UNESCO Heritage Site in Kyiv.
"This time, the Moscow region felt the reach of Ukraine's long-range capabilities. An oil refinery was hit at a distance of 310 miles. This is a just response to Russian strikes and prolonging the war by the Kremlin. Russia must be forced to end its war against our people and Ukraine's long-range weapons are one of the important components of such pressure," said Zelensky.
During a four-hour airborne assault Sunday night and overnight into Monday, Russian forces fired 70 missiles and 611 drones at Kyiv, Kharkiv and other major centers, with much of Ukraine under air raid warnings.
Kyiv was the worst hit with five people killed, including two young children and a pregnant woman, and severe damage to several apartment blocks and the 11th-century Dormition Cathedral, one of the most important sites in the Christian world, which was set on fire.
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Troops in landing craft approach Omaha Beach on D-Day in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history and turned the tide of World War II. Photo by UPI | License Photo