'Just response to Russian strikes' – Ukraine hit major oil refinery in Moscow, Zelensky confirms

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukraine hit the Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district of Russia's capital, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on June 16.

"Russia must be forced to end its war against our people. And Ukraine's long-range weapons are one of the important components of such pressure," Zelensky said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram on June 16 that 25 drones were "destroyed" over the city, and that one of them damaged a facility at the Moscow Oil Refinery. Sobyanin added that there were no casualties and that emergency services were at the site of the attack.

One of the refinery's ELOU-AVT-6 oil processing units caught fire, Ukraine's General Staff reported.

According to Russian industry sources cited by Reuters, the strike knocked the entire refinery out of action, though a second, undamaged unit was expected to be brought back online "soon."

The refinery also supplies aviation fuel to Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports and has a processing capacity of more than 12 million tonnes of crude oil per year, according to the General Staff.

After the attack, the Russian oil company Tatneft restricted fuel sales at all its petrol stations across Russia, the Kremlin-controlled Russian Interfax news agency said.

Payment at petrol stations was being accepted only in cash, and the maximum amount of petrol that can be purchased for passenger cars is 30 liters, Interfax Russia reported, without specifying the reasons for the restrictions.

0:00 / 1× A video purportedly showing Ukrainian drones attacking an oil refinery in Russia's Moscow Oblast overnight on June 16, 2026. (Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky/X)

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) were involved in the operation, Zelensky said.

"This is a just response to Russian strikes – and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended," Zelensky added.

The development came a day after Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack on Kyiv. Several multi-story residential buildings were hit, killing at least five people and injuring 35 others, including a pregnant woman and two children aged 5 and 6.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine's most important historic and religious symbols, was also heavily damaged in the attack.

Dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles — including the hypersonic Zircon cruise missile — as well as more than 600 drones were launched at Ukraine during the attack.

Ukraine routinely carries out deep strikes against military and industrial facilities in Russia, primarily relying on domestically developed drones.

The Moscow oil refinery was previously hit on May 16, the SBU said.