Russia’s capital, Moscow, came under a ferocious drone attack for the second time in the week overnight, hours after Vladimir Putin appeared to stall on US ceasefire proposals. Ukrainian drones also targeted a major oil refinery some 94 miles from the Kremlin dictator’s £1billion Gelendzhik palace on the Black Sea.
Locals reported hearing a series of 10 explosions before a massive inferno engulfed the Tuapse Oil refinery. Air raid sirens were heard throughout Moscow in the early hours of Friday morning, as a swarm of drones zeroed in on the city. An area close to Kievskaya station, named after the Ukrainian capital, reportedly came under fire.
This is across the Moscow River from both the Russian White House, seat of Putin’s government, and the British Embassy.
An explosion was heard in the area of the central city highway Kutuzovsky Prospekt at approximately just before 7am.
“After the explosion, car alarms went off en masse,” said an eyewitness.
This was close to Putin’s usual route from his official Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow to the Kremlin.
Another hit close to Shabolovskaya metro station, near Leninsky Prospekt.
One strike damaged the roof of a residential block on Kievskaya Street, and the windows of a residential building on Lesteva Street were shattered.
Tuapse Oil refinery erupted into flames after a series of 10 deafening explosions were heard in the area.
Massive flames and black acrid smoke rose into the night’s sky following the strike, with the blaze rapidly spreading to cover an area of more than 10,765 square feet.
More than 120 firefighters were dispatched to the fuel depot and are desperately trying to bring the inferno under control.
Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said: “The Kyiv regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse.
“One of the gasoline tanks caught fire. The area of the fire is more than 1,000 square metres, and emergency services are working.
“According to preliminary data, there are no casualties. 121 people and 39 units of equipment are involved in extinguishing the fire.”