An enormous barrage of Ukrainian strike drones rocked the Russian capital city during the night, a bombardment made up of nearly 450 drones that Russian authorities said was the largest raid on Moscow since 2024.
Consequently, all four of Moscow’s major international airports restricted flights in response to the attacks but have since reopened.
Tu-160M Bombers from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Ukrainian Capabilities in the Air Increasing
Speaking to the Financial Times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dubbed the strikes evidence of his country’s growing air prowess. “Today I believe victory in this war belongs to whoever is smarter,” the president said. “If you stop the enemy on the battlefield, if you stop the war on land, and if you deny him dominance at sea — as we did with our naval drones, driving the Russian fleet away — then the next battlefield becomes the sky.”
The president noted that while Russia is a significantly bigger country than Ukraine — and is, in fact, the largest country in the world — that advantage is negated by Ukraine’s burgeoning strike campaign against Russia. “We have moved into the air domain,” Zelensky noted. “And in the air, we are already competitive.”
A Growing Barrage of Strikes Increasingly Far from the Front
Kyiv’s long-range strike campaign has seen targets throughout Russia erupt in smoke. Many of these targets have been thousands of miles from the war’s front lines in Ukraine — and one of the latest strikes was felt as far away as Siberia in Russia’s far east, nearly 2,500 kilometers, or about 1,600 miles, from the front.
Posting to Facebook, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote that Russia’s biggest oil refinery, located in Omsk, was struck overnight. The refinery, which the Ukrainian General Staff said produces a variety of fuel products including diesel, aviation fuel, and gasoline, is Russia’s largest by output, at 21 million barrels per year.
Su-75 Checkmate Stealth Fighter Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Writing on his Telegram channel, Omsk Governor Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed that drones had managed to evade Russian air defense assets and land strikes on energy facilities in Omsk. Satellite imagery from NASA appears to corroborate reports of strikes on the Omsk refinery, which is estimated to produce one-eighth of Russia’s gasoline.
Disruptions to fuel availability within the country have been so severe that Russia — one of the world’s major oil exporters — has been forced to purchase energy from abroad. Reuters reports that Belarus has tripled its oil exports to Russia, and that Russia is also seeking to import gasoline from India, which typically imports energy from Russia.
Bringing the War in Ukraine Home to Russia
Ukraine’s strike campaign is part of what President Zelensky has previously dubbed his country’s “long-range sanctions” effort to make ordinary Russians feel the effects of the war launched by the Russian president in 2022 with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
An Important NATO Summit
Against the backdrop of Russia’s burning energy infrastructure, European leaders and the American president met in Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit. At the meeting, President Zelensky urged NATO’s leadership to double down on support for Ukraine. He also implored the alliance to provide his country with more air defenses, which he identified as Ukraine’s current weakness.
In parallel with President Zelensky’s message, NATO member countries agreed to billions of dollars in investment in military equipment, as part of a strategy aimed at convincing the American president that Europe was stepping up to the challenge of investing in its own defense. Surveillance drones and early-warning aircraft topped the list of deals aimed at bolstering trans-Atlantic defense ties.
One potential solution for easing Ukraine’s air defense interceptor shortage, President Zelensky said, would be to license the production of the American-designed Patriot interceptors in Ukraine, providing the country with another source of vital munitions.
A Rare Acknowledgment of Ukrainian Success
In a stunning admission last week, Putin addressed the fuel shortage directly, a significant acknowledgment of how successful Ukrainian strikes across Russia have been in limiting fuel supplies. While the strikes are “creating problems,” the president said, and there are “certain shortages,” the Russian leader attempted to downplay the severity of the strikes, saying “they are not critical.”
But long lines outside of gas stations, as well as limited fuel sales, have been put in place across Russia. But in Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014, fuel sales for civilians have been suspended entirely. The situation may be approaching a crisis point after all.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
