Moscow: Two dead in mass Ukrainian drone attack; Sobyanin says 650 drones were headed for the capital, with reports of a fire at a major fuel facility

Two people were killed and nine injured in the Moscow region in a mass attack by Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday, October 6, according to regional governor Andrey Vorobyov. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 650 drones were headed for the Russian capital and that most were shot down. Independent Russian media report a fire at the region’s largest fuel storage facility, a claim that has not been independently confirmed.

The dead are a 20-year-old man in the village of Radumlya, north of Moscow, and a 71-year-old man pulled from the rubble of a destroyed home in Baribino, south of the capital. According to Vorobyov, 47 detached houses and four apartment buildings in seven municipalities were damaged. Sobyanin said most of the drones were destroyed at a distance from the city and 105 on their approach to Moscow; on Tuesday morning he announced dozens more shoot-downs. Sheremetyevo airport saw major delays and flight cancellations, the Moscow Times reports.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said air defences intercepted a total of 868 Ukrainian drones over dozens of regions during the night. According to Russian state media, it was the largest drone attack on the Moscow region in the past two years.

Reports of a strike on the Volodarskaya station

The independent Russian outlet Astra reported that video of the attack shows a fire at Transneft’s Volodarskaya production and distribution station near the village of Konstantinovo. The facility is about 40 kilometres from central Moscow and roughly 450 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, the Kyiv Independent notes. It handles up to 3 million tonnes of petroleum products a year and supplies fuel to Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports. According to Astra, it had not previously been the target of a Ukrainian attack. Neither outlet could independently verify the strike.

The attack follows a pledge by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv will step up strikes on Russian refineries in response to the intensification of Russian air attacks on Ukrainian cities. On October 4, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry had announced that Ukrainian strikes have put 51% of Russian refining capacity out of operation. Russia’s Defence Ministry had said on Sunday that it, in turn, would step up strikes on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine.

Thirteen dead in Ukraine in 24 hours

In Ukraine, at least 13 people were killed and 104 injured by Russian attacks over the past 24 hours, according to local authorities, as recorded by the Kyiv Independent. Most casualties were in the Kharkiv region, with seven dead and 70 injured, mainly from guided aerial bombs that hit the city on October 5. In Kryvyi Rih, Russian missiles damaged a hospital and injured four people, including two medical staff.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that overnight into October 6 Russia launched 137 Shahed-type attack drones, 49 of them jet-powered, along with decoy drones. Of these, 114 were shot down or neutralised, while strikes were recorded at 17 locations. The Russian side announced strikes on cargo ships and port infrastructure in Chornomorsk and Izmail, as well as on data centres in Ukrainian cities.