Six Russian vessels in the Black Sea and a set of targets around Moscow were hit in a single night, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, describing an overnight Ukrainian attack on July 20.
“We are responding, justly, to every Russian strike against our cities and communities,” he wrote. “This war must be brought to an end, and that is only possible by increasing the pressure on the sole cause of this war – Russia.”
Zelensky said the ships were two tankers and four dry cargo ships. He gave no locations for the oil depot and logistics facilities struck in Moscow Oblast, saying only that they lay more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
What was reported on the ground
Social media photos and videos purport to show thick black smoke over Podolsk, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Kremlin, after a strike on an oil depot. A fire was also reported at a warehouse of the Russian online retailer Wildberries. Monitoring channels said one of its fulfilment centers was hit in Kolyedino, just south of Podolsk.
Farther out, a residential building in Domodedovo caught fire after a purported drone strike. In Belye Stolby, warehouses at the Yuzhnye Vorota logistics park were destroyed.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said more than 400 Ukrainian drones were launched toward the capital region and that 85 were shot down on approach. Videos from local residents appear to show long-range strike drones over the area. The Kyiv Independent said it could not immediately verify the reports.
Zelensky’s own account left one point open. He did not say whether the Wildberries warehouse held equipment meant for the Russian military. In a video address afterward, though, he said the warehouses targeted overnight were linked to the military.
A second strike in three days
The attack came two days after Ukraine’s military hit Moscow Oblast in a separate operation, striking a Russian logistics center and an oil depot. Ukraine has stepped up its long-range campaign against military, industrial and energy targets inside Russia in recent months, with drones repeatedly reaching Moscow and other regions hundreds of kilometers from the border.
Russia has answered by reinforcing the capital’s air defenses. It has placed new Pantsir-SMD-E systems on the rooftops of civilian buildings in Moscow.
Kyiv treats oil facilities as valid military targets, arguing they supply fuel and funding for the Kremlin’s war machine. The money angle is where the strikes bite hardest. Reuters reported on June 24 that the Moscow Oil Refinery is unlikely to resume production this year after extensive damage from recent drone attacks. The strikes have aggravated a domestic fuel supply crisis that has already brought export bans, price hikes and sales restrictions, and residents of various Russian regions continue to report hours-long waits at service stations.
