The drone strikes were Ukraine's second coordinated attack on Moscow in three days and appear to be a direct response to Putin's raft of conditions for a ceasefire.
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Ukraine carried out significant drone strikes on Moscow, destroying one of the country's largest oil refineries, shortly after accusing Vladimir Putin of trying to sabotage Donald Trump's plans for a ceasefire.
An industrial site just 55 miles from the Kremlin leader’s £1bn Black Sea clifftop palace was hit by the strike, causing a dozen powerful explosions before igniting a massive fire involving 120 firefighters. Vnukovo airport, used by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to fly out of Moscow in his Gulfstream G650ER business jet after meeting Putin and his top officials, was closed after he left due to intense drone fire.
The drone strikes were Ukraine’s second concerted attack on Moscow in three days and appear to be a direct response to a host of conditions laid out by Putin for a ceasefire. The area reportedly targeted was near the Kievskaya metro station, named after the Ukrainian capital. The area is across the Moskva River from both the White House, Putin’s seat of government, and the British Embassy.
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The explosion occurred near the main Kutuzovsky Avenue at about 7 a.m. “After the explosion, car alarms went off en masse,” an eyewitness said. It was not far from Putin's usual route along the highway from his official residence Novo-Ogaryovo in Moscow to the Kremlin. Another explosion occurred near the Shabolovskaya metro station, near Leninsky Avenue.
As a result of one of the strikes, the roof of a residential building on Kievskaya Street was damaged, and windows were knocked out in a house on Lesteva Street. In Balashikha, Moscow Region, a passerby filmed a misfire of a Russian anti-aircraft missile system, Pantsir.
A private home in the Rosinter-2 cottage community southwest of Moscow was also damaged. Black-and-white video shows a drone being shot down by air defenses in Bitsa, south of the capital, according to reports. Khristina Nestoyanova, the wife of a Russian diplomat, described the atmosphere when the capital was under attack as “the feeling when you wake up in Moscow to the loud sounds of air defense systems amid talk of a 30-day ceasefire.”
The Tuapse oil refinery hell began with 10 deafening explosions. Most reports pointed to drones, but locals were unsure whether it was a missile strike. The strike was further from Ukraine than Putin's vast Black Sea palace near Gelendzhik, and may have been a warning to him.
The luxury residence includes a 16-story underground complex and a bunker built inside a cliff, reminiscent of a James Bond villain's lair. The impact sent up huge flames and thick black smoke, with the fire covering more than 10,765 square feet.
More than 120 firefighters were involved in a desperate attempt to control the fire. Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said: “The Kiev regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse. One of the gas tanks caught fire. The fire area is more than 1,000 square meters, 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. The head of the Tuapse municipal district, Sergei Boyko, is at the scene of the incident and is reporting on the situation.”
Meanwhile, Putin not only insists on the expulsion of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, but also violates the border into the Sumy region. Sabotage and reconnaissance groups are trying to get into the Sumy region through a significant section of the border, the head of the Ukrainian regional military administration reported.
Putin had previously announced his intention to create a buffer zone here. According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian strike set fire to the roof of a hospital in Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Putin for his “extremely predictable and manipulative” reaction to Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
“Of course, Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and continue killing Ukrainians,” he said. “That’s why Moscow surrounds the idea of a ceasefire with such preconditions that it either fails or drags on as long as possible.”
Trump said Putin's ceasefire announcement was “promising” but incomplete. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibil wrote: “Here's the difference. Ukraine said “
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
