WASHINGTON (TNND) — Ukraine hit a Moscow oil refinery in a drone strike, disrupting commercial flights across Russia’s capital overnight Thursday.
“Last night, our long-range sanctions once again reached the Moscow region – for the second time this week, the Moscow oil refinery was hit,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X on Thursday. “Targets were also struck in the Rostov region and in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities, and another important result of our warriors’ work against facilities that sustain Russia’s war machine.”
“In recent days, all of our partners have noted the precision and effectiveness of our mid-range strikes and long-range sanctions. It is time the war ended, and Russia must take the necessary steps in diplomacy,” he added.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that several drones struck the Moscow Oil Refinery on the city’s southeastern outskirts, the New York Post reported. The Russian Transport Ministry said that flights at four Moscow airports were stopped amid the strikes.
During the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Kazan, 430 miles east of Moscow.
In a video shared by Zelensky in his post, a large tank cover shot up into the air from an explosion. The video showed multiple strikes and explosions across Moscow.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, it shot down 555 Ukrainian drones and intercepted 200 that were targeting Moscow. It is unclear how many drones made it past the defense systems.
The drone strike on Moscow is one of Ukraine’s largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion over four years ago.
“We don’t want this war, we never did, and everyone knows it, and our partners know it,” Zelensky told reporters Thursday. “But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.”
The drone strike was in response to Russia’s deadly attack on a 1,000-year-old monastery in Kyiv that killed at least 10 people on Monday.
Zelensky’s comments come after he returned to Ukraine from Évian-les-Bains, France, for the G7 summit, during which he discussed his country’s war efforts with several European leaders and President Trump.
After meeting with Zelensky, Trump said, “Russia should make a deal. Russia has lost tremendous amounts of people. So has Ukraine.”
Trump and Zelensky met with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron for an hour at the conclusion of the G7 summit.
“We had unanimity that Russia is not winning,” Zelensky later told a summit hosted by Reuters, adding that Trump “was very positive that he can help us more on missiles.”
As Zelensky urged Trump to arrange peace talks between Ukraine and Russia “before the winter,” the U.S. president told reporters he was willing to reinstate sanctions on Russia.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian state TV regarding the G7 summit, “One can presume that Trump was pumped with harmful ideas. We understand that the Europeans are exercising an unhelpful influence here.”
Ushakov said that the drone attack on Moscow pushed back the prospects of Zelensky and Putin meeting for peace talks.