Reuters has confirmed that Moscow's Kapotnya oil refinery — just 15 kilometers from the Kremlin — will remain offline until at least early 2027 following two Ukrainian drone strikes on June 16 and 18, 2026.
Moscow, Russia — June 23, 2026
Reuters has confirmed what analysts had feared since the flames first lit up Moscow's southern skyline last week: Ukraine's drone campaign has knocked out the Russian capital's most important oil refinery until at least early 2027 — removing 40% of Moscow's fuel supply from the market for a minimum of six months and delivering the most economically significant blow to Russia's energy infrastructure since the war began.
A major Moscow oil refinery will remain out of operation for at least six months — potentially until early 2027 — after repeated drone strikes, according to two industry sources. Located just 15 kilometers from the Kremlin, the refinery, owned by Gazprom Neft, supplies up to 40% of Moscow's fuel market and around 70% of gasoline consumed in the capital region.
The plant is expected to remain out of operation for at least six months. In June, Ukrainian long-range drones struck the strategic facility twice. The first attack took place on June 16, after which a fire broke out at the plant, with smoke visible for several kilometers. Based on published footage from local residents, Ukrainian Defense Forces used FP-1, Lyutyi, and Shahed-type UAVs to strike the Moscow region. Later, on June 18, a second strike hit the refinery.
Ukrainian drone strikes forced the Moscow oil refinery in the Kapotnya district to halt crude oil processing entirely. Ukrainian forces used long-range FP-1, Liutyi, Bober, Behemot, Morok and Bars unmanned aerial vehicles in the operation. The strikes damaged the ELOU-AVT-6 electric desalting and atmospheric-vacuum distillation unit, used for primary crude oil processing and rated at 140,000 barrels per day.
Industry sources told Reuters that the attack damaged the Euro+ combined oil refining unit, as well as secondary units, at the refinery.
A roof from a large storage tank was seen flying into the air amid an explosion.
The June 18 strike — the second on Kapotnya in three days — was the most spectacular and destructive.
The June 18 strike was the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the Moscow region since the start of the war. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said approximately 180 Ukrainian drones had been shot down on the outskirts of the capital. Russian air defenses also downed 555 drones nationwide overnight, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
A video geolocated by NBC News showed a drone flying into a plume of smoke over the Kapotnya refinery, which is in the southeast of Moscow and just 10 miles away from the Kremlin. The facility is seen already engulfed in flames, as air defense rockets are fired at the drone before it crashes, throwing up a ball of fire.
"One of the most secure cities in the world, home to one of the largest oil refineries in central Russia, is ablaze. The consequences of Putin's war are on video. The myth of 'inaccessible Moscow' has been definitively debunked," the monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported.
The Kapotnya shutdown is not happening in isolation. It is the most dramatic single event in a broader collapse of Russia's refining capacity that Ukraine's drone campaign has been engineering for months.
More than 25 Russian regions are reportedly facing fuel shortages, with gasoline sales restrictions emerging even in major cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Russian oil refining volumes fell below 4 million barrels per day in the first week of June — the lowest level in 21 years. Nearly one-third of Russia's refining capacity — around 2.14 million barrels per day — is currently offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes.
Earlier, a large-scale fire at the Russian state-owned facility Temp Combine in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, destroyed 15 fuel tanks. Russia plans to import gasoline by sea in an attempt to address fuel shortages that emerged after large-scale drone strikes on oil refining infrastructure.
"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," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, sharing a video of the Russian capital burning and covered in smoke.
"If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too," Zelensky said in an audio note shared with reporters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that Russians asking "What is going on?" should direct the question to Putin. "I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what's going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promised fresh attacks on "targets upon which the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian armed forces directly depends." The threat does not represent any change in Moscow's policy of regular, often indiscriminate attacks on Ukrainian cities, including numerous mass missile and drone barrages against Kyiv over recent months.
A Moscow psychologist told NBC News she was considering leaving the country if attacks start being felt closer to central Moscow. A game developer in Moscow said she was surprised to learn about the attack, explaining she had been busy with work and not checking the news. Still, she said she felt "horror and fear" about the attack. Despite the capital's air defenses, she had been listening to the skies "more anxiously" of late.
Ukraine's drone campaign has now achieved something that many analysts considered impossible just twelve months ago: the systematic degradation of Russia's ability to refine and distribute its own fuel — inside its own borders, including in the capital city.
Ukraine has been striking oil facilities deep inside Russia after a leap in drone capabilities, an intensifying campaign that Kyiv's allies say has given the country "new momentum" in the war.
The Kapotnya refinery has been part of Moscow's industrial fabric since 1938. It survived the Nazi advance on Moscow in World War II. It survived the Cold War. It survived the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It did not survive Ukraine's drones in June 2026. And it will not reopen until 2027 at the earliest.
DeSanta News will continue to follow the impact of Ukraine's energy war on Russia's fuel supply and economy.
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July 9, 2026 · 5 min read
