Photos and videos posted on social media showed thick black smoke over Podolsk, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Kremlin, after a strike on an oil depot there. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on X that Ukrainian forces had hit an oil depot and logistics facilities in Moscow Oblast, along with six Russian vessels in the Black Sea, in an overnight attack on July 20.
“We are responding, justly, to every Russian strike against our cities and communities,” Zelensky said. “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.”
He said the ships were two tankers and four dry cargo vessels. He gave no locations for the depot and the logistics sites, only that they lay more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
What was reported on the ground
Monitoring channels said a fulfilment center of the large Russian online retailer Wildberries was struck in Kolyedino, just south of Podolsk, and a fire was reported at a Wildberries warehouse. In Belye Stolby, warehouses at the Yuzhnye Vorota logistics park were destroyed. A residential building in Domodedovo caught fire after a purported drone strike.
Zelensky did not say whether the Wildberries warehouse held equipment meant for the Russian military. In a video address after the attack, though, he said the warehouses hit overnight were linked to the military.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed that more than 400 Ukrainian drones were launched toward the capital region and that 85 were downed on approach. Residents’ videos appear to show long-range strike drones overhead. The Kyiv Independent said it could not immediately verify the reports.
The strike came two days after Ukraine hit another logistics center and an oil depot in Moscow Oblast.
Pressure on Russian fuel
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 putting new Pantsir-SMD-E air defense systems on the rooftops of civilian buildings in Moscow.
Kyiv treats oil facilities as legitimate military targets because they supply fuel and money for the Kremlin’s war effort. Strikes have hit depots, cut output at major facilities and in some cases stopped operations indefinitely. Reuters reported on June 24 that the Moscow Oil Refinery is unlikely to restart production this year after extensive damage from recent drone attacks.
The attacks have worsened a fuel supply crisis that already brought export bans, price hikes and sales restrictions across Russia. Residents of several regions still report hours-long waits at filling stations.
