Ukrainian “long-range sanctions” continue to hammer targets in Russia, with continued targeting of the Russian capital of Moscow with massive drone attacks.
Tuesday’s drone strike was the ninth straight day of Ukraine targeting Moscow, and the number of drones that Russia has shot down speaks volumes about how massive these attacks have become.
Russia’s President Putin. Image Credit: Russian Government.
According to Russian authorities, they have shot down 1,134 drones through the first six months of 2026, as compared to 2025, when Russian air defenses shot down 734 drones attacking Moscow.
Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Tuesday that Russian defenses had shot down 60 Ukrainian drones during the latest attack.
Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov said in a post on the Telegram app that 86 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over the wider Moscow region.
He added that six people were wounded in the drone strikes.
“Over the past 24 hours, an attack by enemy drones on Moscow has continued. One of the drones damaged a facility on the territory of the Moscow Refinery.
There were no casualties. Emergency services are working at the scene of the incident,” Sobyanin posted on Telegram.
Then President-elect Vladimir Putin aiming with an AK-74 rifle simulator at an electronic shooting gallery during his visit to the Russian Railways Scientific and Technical Development Center in Moscow’s Rizhsky railway station.
Russia Deploying Anti-Drone Teams In Moscow
During the latest attack, a drone sparked a fire and damaged an oil and gas facility at Moscow region’s largest refinery in the Kapotnya district of southeast Moscow on Tuesday.
The Gazprom Neft refinery has been targeted multiple times during the war and processed 11.6 million tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of gasoline and 3.2 million tons of diesel, according to Reuters.
The oil refinery was previously hit on May 16, the Ukrainians said. The refinery produced about 40 percent of the gasoline and 50 percent of the diesel fuel for the Moscow area.
Reuters, citing its sources, reported that the refinery suspended operations following the drone attack.
As a result of this and earlier attacks in the capital, the Moscow Times reported on Wednesday that armed Russian military personnel have begun deploying on elevated platforms across Moscow as authorities seek to strengthen defenses against unmanned aerial attacks by Ukrainian drones.
Drone Strikes Causing Purchasing Caps For Russians
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, and Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) were involved in the operation, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.
The Ukrainian drones struck the oil plant in Moscow and Russia’s southern Krasnodar Krai region overnight.
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency described the attack as one of the largest barrages aimed at Moscow this year, while after the attack, oil producer Tatneft announced nationwide fuel purchase caps, underscoring how effective Ukrainian drone attacks have been against Russia’s oil and gas industries.
Tatneft, Russia’s fifth-largest oil producer, set purchase limits for Russian consumers in Moscow to 20 liters of gasoline and 40 liters of diesel per car, and is accepting only cash.
Zelenskyy Touts Ukraine’s Reach And Calls For Peace
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the refinery was hit from a distance of 500 km (311 miles), illustrating the reach of Ukraine’s long-range strikes.
“This is a just response to Russian strikes – and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended,” he said on “X” formerly Twitter. The strike came one day after Russian drones struck and set on fire the 1,000-year-old Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051.
“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,” Zelensky said.
The video footage shared by President Zelenskyy showed huge fireballs reaching hundreds of feet into the air.
Russian authorities claim to have put out the fire and added that it did not affect operations at the plant. However, anonymous sources, to protect their identity, contradicted this claim.
Zelenskyy has asked the US for more Patriot air defense missiles, as Russia continues its attacks on the Ukrainian civilian populace. More civilians have been killed in May than in any month since the Russian invasion began in 2022.
Ukraine Has Brought The War To The Russian People
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said that “Even though Putin has deployed almost all of the key air defense and missile defense systems to Moscow, this doesn’t save the Russians. Putin is not a guarantee of safety for Muscovites,” Kovalenko added on the Telegram app.
Following the drone attack, Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced flight restrictions at more than a dozen airports across southern and western Russia, including all four of Moscow’s international airports: Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Zhukovsky, and Sheremetyevo.
ABC News added that flight restrictions affected other airports stretching from Sochi on the Black Sea coast to Nizhnekamsk in the Tatarstan Republic, about 750 miles from Ukraine.
President Trump has tried to get both sides to agree to peace and has grown frustrated by the lack of progress in reaching an agreement.
He said Tuesday there was a “great antipathy” between Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and urged the Kremlin chief to “make a deal.”
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
