60 drones shot down on approach to Moscow; fire breaks out at city oil refinery
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 60 drones were shot down on approach to the capital after 5 a.m. on June 16. All four Moscow airports — Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky — were closed overnight; restrictions were lifted by morning.
Astra, an independent Telegram channel, reported, citing eyewitnesses, that air defense systems were active in Pavlovsky Posad outside Moscow and that one drone was shot down over the city. Drones were also intercepted over Ramenskoye and Zhukovsky.
Warning: the video contains profanity.
The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ claimed that a fire broke out at the Moscow oil refinery in Kapotnya following a drone attack. Moscow authorities soon confirmed the strike on the refinery. Sobyanin said one drone damaged a facility at the site. There were no casualties.
In Krasnodar Krai, drone debris ignited a fire at a fuel depot in Poltavskaya. Regional emergency officials said there were no fatalities or injuries. The road between Poltavskaya and the hamlet of Trudobelikovsky was closed as a result of the attack.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defense forces destroyed 172 Ukrainian drones overnight on June 16 over Russian regions and occupied Crimea.
Drones were shot down over the Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Oryol, Tambov, Tula, Rostov, and Ryazan regions, the Moscow region, Krasnodar Krai, occupied Crimea, and the Sea of Azov and Black Sea.
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