Moscow faced one of the most serious Ukrainian drone attacks since the start of the war, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin acknowledged on Thursday, after Ukraine severely damaged an oil refinery south-east of the capital.
"Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery," he said on Telegram.
Images and videos circulating on social networks show several fires at the facility.
Air defences had shot down more than 190 drones, according to the latest information.
Numerous recordings by eyewitnesses also appear to show air defences partly helpless. Some videos show drones continuing on course apparently unimpressed by rifle fire. In another video, an air-defence projectile misses the drone. Even when hit, the drone does not explode in midair but at a garden centre near the refinery.
The authenticity of the footage could not initially be verified.
Zelensky: Just response to constant Russian strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack on the refinery on social media. He described the strike as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions," writing that it was a just response to the constant Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and municipalities.
He thanked Ukraine's intelligence services for the strike and wrote that the facility had been an important target for Russia's war machine.
No official information is yet available on the extent of the damage at the oil-processing plant. The independent online outlet Astra said that after analysing video footage it identified at least five separate fires at the refinery.
Official information said a residential building in Moscow was also hit. A high-rise building in the surrounding region was damaged as well, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said. No information was initially available about injuries in and around Moscow. The four Moscow airports were closed for several hours because of the attacks.
In addition to Moscow, Ukraine also targeted other Russian and Russian-controlled regions in its drone attacks. The Russian military spoke of more than 550 intercepted drones overnight.
One person was killed in the border region of Belgorod and there were also several injured in Belgorod, Kursk and in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Strike comes during Putin's ASEAN meeting
The strike on the Russian capital again coincided with a major international event staged by President Vladimir Putin, the ASEAN summit in Kazan on the Volga.
In early June, Ukraine visibly set a fuel depot in St Petersburg on fire while Putin's international economic forum was taking place there.
The oil refinery in the Kapotnya district in south-east Moscow belongs to Gazprom Neft and is one of the biggest plants in Russia, with a processing capacity of 11 million metric tons a year. It covers a significant share of Moscow's fuel supply. This is the third time refinery has been targeted by Ukrainian attacks, with the most recent strike before this coming only two days ago.
Ukraine has been defending itself for more than four years against Russia's full-scale invasion, which was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
