Hundreds of Ukrainian drones crossed into Moscow’s airspace on the morning of June 18 and hit the capital’s largest oil refinery, in the Kapotnya district. The plant is 15 kilometers from the Kremlin. Fires broke out in at least five places and black smoke spread across the city. Russian media called it the largest attack on the capital since the war began.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces later confirmed it was a repeat strike on the refinery. The General Staff said the damage included a combined oil refining unit, three RVS-10000 tanks and one RVS-30000 tank. Dozens more drones came at Moscow on June 19, and local authorities reported falling “debris.”
Why the drones got through
The Telegraph, as relayed by the Ukrainian outlet NV, said the drones met almost no resistance and exposed outdated defenses around Moscow. It described a reversal: Russia opened the era of mass drone warfare with swarms of Iranian-made Shahed drones, and each year it enlarged the groups it sent. Now, the paper argued, Russia is being beaten at its own game.
Emily Ferris, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told The Telegraph that the drones’ likely flight altitude “makes them more difficult for Russian air defense systems to detect.” She said Russia’s efforts to counter the attacks remain in their early stages.
Analysts cited in the report said Russia still leans on traditional radar systems and on expensive missile interceptors, which are increasingly in short supply. Ukraine is raising both the number of drones it launches and how often it strikes. The Telegraph said it often returns to the same target within days, which lets it find weak points and wear down the defenders.
Reaction and outlook
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said the Moscow strikes showed gaps in Russian air defenses. Russian military bloggers, they added, began openly criticizing censorship and the authorities’ failure to protect the population.
Analysts expect Ukraine’s Defense Forces to intensify strikes through the summer, as Russia prepares for State Duma elections scheduled for Sept. 18-20, 2026. One analyst quoted in the report said that “politically, this will put Putin in a very difficult” position.
