KYIV – Ukraine launched one of its biggest-ever drone attacks on Russia over the weekend, hitting a refinery and power station deep inside the country, according to videos posted on social media and geolocated by CNN. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the size of the Ukrainian attack, but downplayed its effectiveness, saying Sunday that 158 Ukrainian UAVs unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed and intercepted by on-duty air defense” overnight in 15 regions, including over the capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said two drones were shot down in the area of the Moscow Oil Refinery. No casualties were reported, but the second downed drone damaged a technical building at the refinery and caused a fire, which the mayor said had been localized and did not affect the plant’s operation. The Tver region’s governor, Igor Rudenya, said on social media that a fire caused by the drone attack on the Konakovo district has been extinguished and that gas and electricity services to the area were operating normally.

The Ukrainian drone strikes follow others in the past week, including one last Thursday that set fire to oil reservoirs at a refinery in the Rostov region of Russia, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Social media video geolocated by CNN showed a large cloud of black smoke billowing from the Atlas oil depot in Rostov following the strike. The recent wave of Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory began last month, when Kyiv’s troops launched a cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on August 6.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the most recent drone assaults deep inside Russia were justified by Moscow’s repeated attacks on his country. Just in the past week, Russia has launched over 160 missiles of various types, 780 guided aerial bombs, and 400 strike UAVs of different kinds against our people,” Zelensky said in a post on X. On Sunday, at least 41 people were injured following a Russian attack on civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, local authorities said. (CNN)

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