The war just came roaring back to Moscow’s doorstep. Ukraine launched more than 650 drones toward the Russian capital overnight into Tuesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said — adding that most were shot down — in what Reuters calls one of the biggest attacks of the war on Moscow and the surrounding region.
The toll on the ground: Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said two people were killed — a 71-year-old man pulled from the rubble of a house and a 20-year-old man in a nearby village — and nine were injured. He said 185 drones were destroyed or brought down over his region, with 47 houses, four apartments and three cars damaged.
The big question is fuel. Prominent Russian war blogger Yuri Podolyaka said an oil storage tank was hit at the Volodarskaya oil storage and distribution facility — the biggest in the Moscow region, which stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel and supplies all three of the capital’s large airports, per Reuters. There was no official confirmation it was hit, and Reuters could not immediately verify video purporting to show a huge blaze. Meduza reports local authorities had not reported a fire.
South of the city, the head of Domodedovo — home to Russia’s third-largest airport — said crews were working to restore electricity to villages hit by drones. Al Jazeera’s Moscow correspondent said the barrage ended a relative lull in large Ukrainian strikes on Moscow since Sept. 20, as both sides pound each other’s infrastructure ahead of winter.
Translation: Kyiv keeps aiming at the oil money that pays for Russia’s war — and the diesel squeeze is everybody’s problem now.
Sources: Reuters (via ThePrint) · Al Jazeera (AFP/Reuters) · Meduza
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