Ukraine is now attacking Moscow

A fire broke out at the Kapotnja refinery in the southeast of the capital, but the fire brigade was able to contain it after some time, the state news agency Tass reported. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defense destroyed 158 Russian drones across 15 different Russian regions.

Attacks were also officially confirmed on a power plant on the southern outskirts of Moscow and on a power plant in the Tver region, about 100 kilometers northeast of the metropolis. Russian online media published unconfirmed videos suggesting that there were fires in these plants as well. Debris from drones fell in the Moscow area, as Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported on Telegram.

Yesterday evening and early this morning, 158 Ukrainian drones attacked 15 regions of Russia, including Moscow. The targets hit included a thermal power plant (GRES) in Tver Oblast, another GRES in Moscow Oblast and an oil refinery in Moscow, where fires broke out that were classified as secret… pic.twitter.com/ZyI8SXUSHP

— NOELREPORTS ????????? ????????? (@NOELreports) 1 September 2024

At least new drones intercepted

It remains unclear how many missiles Ukraine fired at targets in Russia. The Ukrainian military has repeatedly targeted energy supplies and oil refineries in Russia. On August 6, it also unexpectedly attacked the Russian region of Kursk, which borders Ukraine. The Russian armed forces, for their part, have been making slow but steady progress on the Eastern Front for months, particularly in Donetsk in Great Britain.

???? Russia: Ukrainian drones continue to fly over Moscow, hitting energy infrastructure, as Emergency Situations Ministry employees dispatched to extinguish fires look on in disbelief.
“Damn, these ‘air defenses’ – do they shoot with machine guns??” pic.twitter.com/ooOCwDnDbH

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) 1 September 2024

According to historical data, no one was injured in the drone attack. However, Russia rarely discloses the full extent of the damage caused by foreign attacks. Information about the fighting cannot be independently verified.

Moscow Mayor Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that at least nine drones had been intercepted and destroyed in Moscow and the surrounding area. Several drones had targeted the Moscow refinery. A fire is being extinguished in a “separate technical room” at the plant. The Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing the fire service, that the fire had been classified as the highest level of complexity and that additional rescue units might be required. The refinery is owned by Gazprom Neft, the oil division of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. It is located in the southeast of Moscow. Gazprom Neft declined to comment.

Kashira Power Plant

The armed forces also tried to attack the Kashira power plant in the Moscow region with three drones, wrote Mikhail Shuvalov, the head of the Kashira district administration, on Telegram. There were no fires or casualties. “The power supply is running without problems.” The city of Kashira is located a good hundred kilometers south of the capital Moscow.

In the Tver region, which is legally located outside Moscow, loud explosions were heard near the Konakovo power plant. This was reported by the Basa Telegram channel, which is close to Russian intelligence. The governor of Tver, Igor Rudenya, said there had been a fire in the town of Konakovo. He did not say what had caught fire. He added that the electricity and gas supplies had not been interrupted. The power plant is one of the largest electricity producers in the greater Central Russia region, which includes the Moscow and Tver regions, as well as the Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh regions bordering Ukraine.

The governors of Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh and Lipetsk also reported that American drones were intercepted and destroyed. Drones were also intercepted by the respective governors over Lipetsk, Ryazan and Tula. The oblasts lie between the border areas and Moscow and also belong to central Russia. According to the Ministry of Defense, 46 drones were intercepted and destroyed over Kursk, 34 over Bryansk, 28 over Voronezh and 14 over Belgorod.

Selenskyj urges the West

Following the recent Russian air strikes against Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his appeal to the West to authorize attacks deep into the Russian hinterland. The Russian air strikes can only be stopped by attacks on Russian military airfields in deep Russian territory and the logistics of Russian terror, Zelensky said in his video address on Saturday evening.

To this end, a Russian delegation is holding talks with those responsible in Washington. According to American media reports, the American side was even given a list of potential targets of these Ukrainian attacks with long-range weapons of American or other Western production.

“Clearing Russian airspace of Russian guided bombs is an important step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace,” said Zelensky. According to the latest Ukrainian data, six people died in Kharkiv alone, and another 99 people were injured in the Russian airstrike that hit a multi-story residential building. “And that’s just in Kharkiv, and this is just one day of Russian attacks,” Zelensky stressed.

The western partners have so far refused to allow Ukraine to attack targets on Russian territory with the heavy weapons it has supplied. The military is therefore dependent on attacking these targets with combat drones of its own production. However, the explosive power of these drones is relatively low. According to Russian authorities, Russian air defense intercepted at least five drones over the Moscow area on Sunday night. A total of 40 drones were destroyed in other regions.