Ukraine has launched a large-scale drone attack on Moscow, killing two people and setting a warehouse ablaze in the capital, according to Russian officials.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that during the night of October 7 local time, the attack involved 650 drones heading toward the city, most of which were shot down. The development shows both sides are escalating long-range strikes on infrastructure ahead of winter.
Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov said one person was killed in Radumlya and another in Barbybino. According to him, seven people were injured, and 47 houses, four apartments and three cars were damaged.
He added that 185 drones were "destroyed or neutralized" across the wider region.
Prominent military blogger Yuri Podolyaka said an oil tank was hit at the Volodarskaya oil storage and distribution facility, the largest in the Moscow region. The facility stores diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel. There has been no official confirmation that the site was struck.
Volodarskaya is one of the main hubs in Transneft's distribution system and is connected to Moscow's main refinery. The facility supplies fuel to all three of the capital's major airports.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted refineries, depots and export terminals, aiming to cut off the revenue Moscow needs to finance the war Russia launched in February 2022.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera correspondent Dmitry Medvenko said the attack ended a period of relative calm in major Ukrainian strikes on Moscow since September 20.
On the same day, Moscow-installed officials in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhia region said a Ukrainian drone attack on a minibus killed three people.
Russia has recently stepped up attacks on Ukraine's capital Kyiv, launching multiple waves of missiles and drones day and night. The latest targets include bridges spanning the Dnipro River.
Kremlin-installed official Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone struck a minibus near a village close to the front line, killing "three people, including the driver," and injuring three passengers.
Both Russia and Ukraine are intensifying attacks in the fifth year of the war, as diplomacy has so far failed to end the fighting and the United Nations warns of a significant rise in civilian casualties.
