Ukraine staged major drone strikes on Russian capital Moscow soon after accusing Vladimir Putin of seeking to thwart Donald Trump’s ceasefire demand.
A major oil refinery was also hit in a strike, triggering ten explosions followed by a massive inferno – just 55 miles from Putin’s £1 billion clifftop palace on the Black Sea.
Vnukovo airport – used by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to leave Moscow after meeting Putin and his top officials – was closed.
It was the second major Ukrainian attack on Moscow in three days, and appeared to be a direct response to Putin setting multiple conditions for any ceasefire.
The inferno at Tuapse Oil Refinery came after ten deafening explosions, thought to be orchestrated by drones.
Huge flames and thick black smoke rose after the strike and the fire spread quickly. More than 120 firefighters fought the blaze.
Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said: ‘The Kyiv regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse. One of the gasoline tanks caught fire.’
Moscow was also rocked by drone strikes, causing car alarms to go off ‘en masse’, according to an eyewitness.
The strikes were close to Putin’s usual highway route from his official residence in Moscow to the Kremlin.
Another strike was close to a metro station, with further ones damaging roofs and windows of residential buildings.
A piece of a misfiring Russian Pantsir air defence system was filmed by a passerby in the Moscow region.
Days ago, Ukraine launched what was its largest drone attack yet against Moscow on the same day peace talks began with delegates in Saudi Arabia.
Exploding drones targeted high-rise residential buildings in the Russian capital, days after Ukraine’s vital infrastructure was hit in an onslaught from Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Russian air defences claimed to have intercepted and destroyed 337 of the Ukrainian drones over ten regions at night, including 91 around Moscow, and 126 drones over the Kursk region, which is partially under Ukrainian control.
All four main Moscow airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukova and Zhukovsky – were disrupted by the drone onslaught, delaying flights and cancelling others.
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