Ukrainian drones struck the Moscow oil refinery for the second time this week, as Russia launched missiles at Kyiv, while President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks US and European support to reach an agreement ending the war.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on June 19 that its air defense systems shot down 555 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, with nearly 200 intercepted as they approached Moscow.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said some drones hit the oil refinery. “Air defense forces continue to repel a large-scale attack. Some drones reached the Moscow oil refinery,” Sobyanin said, adding that a commercial center also sustained light damage.
The attack on the oil facility was the second in a week, after a drone strike on June 17 that shut down the refinery, according to Reuters, as widespread damage to Russia’s energy infrastructure deepens the country’s fuel crisis.
The Moscow region governor said a high-rise apartment building, an industrial facility, and several private homes were also damaged in the drone attack. Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow’s busiest, suspended flights and evacuated people, with some seeking shelter in parking garages, the airport said.
Meanwhile, Kyiv faced a second Russian airstrike this week as ballistic missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital, city officials said. Earlier this week, a major Russian strike on Kyiv killed 11 people and damaged a 1,000-year-old monastery listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, drawing condemnation from European leaders. Russia denied attacking the monastery.
The attacks come as Zelensky intensifies pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the more than four-year war. Zelensky said he spoke with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other G7 leaders to coordinate ways to end the conflict.
G7 leaders pledged to boost Ukraine’s air defenses and increase pressure on Moscow’s war economy, including tightening sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector.
Trump told reporters he would “do everything possible” to end the war.
Zelensky said he received important commitments from the G7, including “additional anti-aircraft missiles and licenses to produce them, and a winter support package.”
“It is important that the US is ready to provide support for these efforts. It is essential that everything discussed is implemented. Russia must know that its war will never be normalized,” Zelensky wrote on X.
