Stunning Video Shows Moscow Oil Refinery Roof Blasted into the Air After Ukrainian Drone Strikes
Screenshots via X.
Stunning photos and video from Moscow showed multiple oil refineries on fire Thursday from Ukrainian drone strikes — including one that literally had the roof blown off.
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has stretched into its fourth year, the Ukrainians have increasingly taken bolder steps, sending drones over the border to strike military and infrastructure targets hundreds of miles into Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans for his “Victory Day” parade on May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square were noticeably scaled back — even after an official statement released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing a temporary ceasefire. Putin seems to have found himself still uneasy after Zelensky’s public promise to honor a ceasefire, as the former comedian snarkily included the precise military coordinates of the parade grounds in his statement.
It’s far from the first time Zelensky has drawn on his past theatrical career to express himself with wry humor during the war, from his rejection of an offer of help from the U.S. to evacuate in the early days of the war (“I need ammunition, not a ride“) to the way he debunked Putin’s claims last December that Ukrainian troops in Kupiansk were surrounded — by showing up in person and posting selfies.
Zelensky has kept this tone in his reports on social media about the drone strikes Ukraine has been able to accomplish in Russia, frequently referring to them as “long-range sanctions.”
His post on Thursday announced that Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions once again reached the Moscow region” and had hit the Moscow oil refinery “for the second time this week,” and shared several video clips showing explosions, fire, and large plumes of smoke stretching across the Moscow skyline.
Wrote Zelensky:
Last night, our long-range sanctions once again reached the Moscow region – for the second time this week, the Moscow oil refinery was hit. Targets were also struck in the Rostov region and in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities, and another important result of our warriors’ work against facilities that sustain Russia’s war machine. I thank our Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine for their coordinated efforts – the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, Defense Intelligence, and our missile brigade for their precision.
In recent days, all of our partners have noted the precision and effectiveness of our mid-range strikes and long-range sanctions. It is time the war ended, and Russia must take the necessary steps in diplomacy.
The Kyiv Independent reported that the Ukrainian drone strikes “caused major disruptions to air travel, with state-owned airline Aeroflot and its subsidiary Rossiya canceling more than 170 flights to and from Moscow and delaying over 110 others, according to company statements.”
Ukrainian officials confirmed the strike on the refinery to the Independent, and said that “at least five fires were recorded at the facility,” including “a combined oil processing unit, secondary refining units and a storage tank farm were burning.” The government also said that the strikes hit the Gukovo fuel depot in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, a facility used to store and ship fuel and lubricants for the Russian army.
Zelensky told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine would continue such strikes as long as Putin refused to end the war, and cited the attack earlier this week on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery.
“If Putin does not want to end this war, we will not sit quietly,” he said. “We will respond, and the response must be strong. If Ukraine burns, so will Moscow.”
Other government officials have echoed this message, that Ukraine is determined to defend itself and will continue to strike strategic targets within Russia until Putin withdraws his troops.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote a tweet in response to Moscow residents who were alarmed by the strikes and fires and asking “What is going on?”
The answer, wrote Sybiha, is that “[y]our country started a war of aggression against ours” and “has been killing our people” for years.
“Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it,” he added.
According to the Independent, the refinery “is one of the largest in Russia, supplying about 40% of the Moscow fuel market and the majority of the region’s gasoline,” and it “provides aviation fuel to all four of Moscow’s major airports and has a processing capacity of more than 12 million tons of crude oil per year.”
Multiple official Ukrainian government accounts and media outlets shared additional photos and video of the aftermath of the drone strikes, including several showing the circular roof blasting in the air, with some comparing it to a flying saucer.
A post by the state media account United24 referred to the refinery strike as a “UFO (Unplanned Flammable Outage).”
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Other posts by United24 collected memes that were circulating Thursday among pro-Ukrainian accounts.
Several additional video and photo posts are included below.
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Update Thursday June 18, 2026 5:15 pm ET: New video footage indicates that the oil refinery roof may have been blown off by an errant Russian missile. Other video clips posted earlier in the day showed numerous Russian surface-to-air missiles being fired off amidst the Ukrainian drones strikes, many missing their targets. Kyiv Independent reporter Chris York mocked Russia for not only using “expensive interceptor missiles to take down cheap drones,” but also wildly “firing [the missiles] into the air like they’re at a Taliban wedding.”
Below are several clips appearing to show a Russian missile striking the refinery just before the explosion that blasts the roof into the air.
Other video clips show a Ukrainian drone partially damaged by a strike from a Russian missile, but still falling onto its target and appearing to ignite an explosion.
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