The night Moscow burned: drones strike the Kapotnya refinery
On the night of June 18, 2026, Ukrainian forces carried out the largest drone strike on Moscow since the start of the full-scale war. The primary target was the Moscow oil refinery in the Kapotnya district.
What happened
Drones reached the capital despite Russia's densest air-defense network. At the Moscow refinery (operated by Gazprom Neft), about 15 km southeast of the city center, at least five to six separate fires broke out. The plant supplies up to 30–40% of the capital's fuel; crude processing was halted.
Why it matters
The strike combined several objectives at once: continuing the campaign against Russian refineries, demonstrating the ability to penetrate the layered air defense around Moscow, and creating a powerful media image. By that point, accumulated strikes had taken roughly a third of Russia's entire refining capacity offline.
The image of the night
Columns of smoke visible over the city, and dozens of eyewitness frames on social media, became the visual symbol of the event. It is from these frames that we assembled the panorama we print as a chronicle — see how this beauty was born.