Ukraine says it has struck a Russian oil refinery and a microchip factory in a huge drone attack that caused fires at the refinery’s production facilities and an oil pumping station.
Other drones targeted numerous regions, including 20 drones in Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow, the Russian defence ministry said. Russian war blogger channels on the Telegram messaging app posted videos of what they described as large blazes in the city. They said an oil storage depot and a power station had been hit.
The Ukrainian military said on Facebook that fires had broken out at the damaged refinery’s production facilities and at an oil pumping station but did not make clear how serious the damage was.
Ukraine’s military said it had also struck the Kremniy El microelectronics plant in Russia’s Bryansk region, which Kyiv said produced components for Russian air defence missile systems, nuclear-capable missiles, and on-board electronics for combat aircraft.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had intercepted 121 drones targeting 13 regions, adding six drones had been destroyed over the Moscow region and one over the capital itself. The ministry did not disclose the extent of the damages or casualties.
The overnight strikes underline Ukraine’s ability to hit targets deep inside Russia as the two sides try to strengthen their positions before any peace talks get under way following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The US president has said he intends to bring a swift end to nearly three years of war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was open to discussions with Trump on the Ukraine war, but that the question of negotiating with Ukraine was complicated by the fact that its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had signed a decree preventing him from conducting talks with Putin.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that air defences had intercepted attacks by Ukrainian drones at four locations around the Russian capital.
“At the site where fragments fell, no damage or casualties occurred,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. “Specialist emergency crews are at the site.”
Russian news agencies quoted Rosaviatsiya, the federal aviation agency, as saying two Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, were handling flights after suspending operations for a time. Six flights were redirected to other airports.
In the Russian border city of Kursk – in a region where Ukraine holds a swathe of territory – Mayor Igor Kutsak said the overnight attack had damaged power lines and cut off electricity to one city district.
Commenting on the damage caused by Ukraine’s drone attacks, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, said on Telegram that an oil refinery in Ryazan had been hit as well as the Kremniy plant in Bryansk, which Kyiv says produces microelectronics for Russian weapons systems.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday it had also fought off a Russian drone attack and shot down 25 of 58 drones launched by Russia in an overnight assault.
The interior ministry said that drone debris had killed two men and a woman in the central Kyiv region, and that another person was injured. The attack damaged a multi-story residential apartment building, eight private houses, commercial buildings, and several private cars, Kyiv regional officials said.
As the war approaches the three-year mark, Russia has stepped up its air attacks on Ukraine, sending dozens of drones almost every night.
Ukrainian officials have said that Russian forces launched more than 7,000 drones in 2024, at least twice as many as in 2023. Most were shot down or redirected by electronic warfare, but many still hit their targets. Moscow denies targeting civilians.
Meanwhile, Russian security official Sergei Shoigu warned in an interview published on Friday that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers was rising.
Mr Shoigu, the secretary of Putin’s Security Council, told the state-run TASS news agency: “Against the backdrop of increasing conflict and aggravation of geopolitical rivalry in the world, the risks of a violent clash between major states, including with the participation of nuclear powers, are growing.”
The former defence minister said that Nato was increasing activities on its eastern flank, close to Russia and Belarus, and rehearsing offensive as well as defensive scenarios there.
Nato says it is Russia that is raising tensions, including by announcing in 2023 that it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons in its ally Belarus, which borders three Nato countries. “The Russian ‘nuclear umbrella’ now ensures the protection of our closest ally in the same framework scenarios in which Russia allows a nuclear response for its own defence,” Mr Shoigu said of Belarus.
Reuters contributed to this report
