Two Killed in Massive Drone Attack on Moscow Region; Oil Refinery Hit

Two people were killed in what authorities described as one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region, with an oil refinery in the Russian capital also struck, officials said on Sunday as the country entered the final day of parliamentary elections.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that the attacks had been thwarted, with Russia downing more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed for Moscow. Several drones reached the premises of the oil refinery and one hit an apartment, he said, adding that there were no casualties in the city itself.

"The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections," Sobyanin said. "The adversary failed to achieve this."

Witnesses heard blasts in Moscow and saw plumes of smoke rising from the site of the Moscow refinery. The extent of damage to the facility was not immediately clear.

In the wider Moscow region, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said that in addition to the two deaths, 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-storey apartment block in the Ramenskoye district, and a number of homes were damaged.

The Moscow plant, which has been targeted multiple times, processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of gasoline and 3.2 million tons of diesel, according to the latest available data.

Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia's oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at filling stations in many regions across the country's 11 time zones.

Ukraine has not commented on the attacks. Both sides say they do not target civilians.

The strikes continued despite an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that the two countries had agreed to stop attacks on each other's energy infrastructure.