MOSCOW, June 18 (AFP): Ukraine on Thursday launched its largest drone attack on Moscow in years, sparking fires in and around the capital and forcing evacuations at the country's largest airport, officials said.
Unverified videos on social media purported to show large columns of black smoke over the city's skyline, while another showed drones buzzing overhead.
The large-scale attack came hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to meet Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in the central city of Kazan, about 700 kilometres (435 miles) east of the capital.
Kyiv has stepped up its drone strikes on Russia in recent months, hitting oil refineries that fund Moscow's war chest, as diplomatic talks on ending the more than four-year conflict remain stalled.
"Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the MNPZ (Moscow Oil Refinery)," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, with authorities closing traffic on streets near the refinery.
He did not specify damage to the facility, but several Russian media outlets reported that it was on fire.
Russia's busiest airport-Moscow's Sheremetyevo-announced it had evacuated passengers to "safe locations" during the barrage and was restricting flights.
Another drone crashed into an apartment building in the Moscow region district of Zhukovsky, while drone debris sparked a fire at a shopping centre near the capital's suburbs, Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyov said.
Russian air defences shot down 180 drones on approach to Moscow, Sobyanin said, while the Russian defence ministry reported it had intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Meanwhile, Russia threatened more strikes on Ukraine on Thursday, after one of Kyiv's biggest drone barrages on Moscow hit a major refinery, wounding 17 people and engulfing the Russian capital in thick black smoke.
Asked about the attack, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Putin had previously announced Russia would "carry out massive group strikes on a regular basis," against Ukraine, adding that Russia's army was "carrying it out and will continue to do so."
