Two dead in Moscow region, drones hit oil refinery in Russian capital

MOSCOW: Two people died ‌in one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region and an oil refinery in Russia’s capital was hit, authorities said on Sunday, as Russia enters the final day ​of parliamentary elections.

Ukraine and Russia have continued attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure despite ​an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that they had agreed ⁠to stop.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel that the biggest ​Ukrainian drone 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, Sobyanin said, adding there were no casualties in the city.

“The unprecedented attack ​was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections,” he said. “The adversary ​failed to achieve this.”

Reuters witnesses heard blasts in Moscow and saw plumes of smoke billowing from ‌the ⁠site of the Moscow refinery. The scale of any damage to the facility was not immediately known.

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.

Russian strikes injure 18 across Ukraine, officials say

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, the ⁠latest available data shows.

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

In the wider Moscow region, 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, said Governor Andrei Vorobyov.