Ukraine hits a Moscow oil refinery and other sites in a large-scale drone attack

MOSCOW - Ukraine launched a new wave of drone attacks on Russia early Thursday, with the majority targeting Moscow. It amounted to one of the largest attacks on the Russian capital since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defenses destroyed nearly 200 Ukrainian drones on approach to the capital - but acknowledged several had managed to hit the city's main oil refinery for the second time this week. Videos circulating on social media showed drones repeatedly striking the facility, sending large fireballs upward - and expletives tumbling out of many a Russian mouth. Russian intercepts appear to have played a role in some of the damage. One intercept sent a drone crashing into a megamall in southeast Moscow, setting the complex ablaze. In another instance, a drone slammed into a high-rise apartment building. Moscow authorities reported 17 people injured in all. Even hours after the attack, plumes of black smoke massed along the Moscow skyline - and all four of the city's airports suspended operations for much of the day. There was no immediate response by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the attacks. The Kremlin leader wasn't in Moscow, having traveled to nearby Kazan to host a regional Asian summit. In a statement released online, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the latest attacks a "fully justified" response to intense Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities. Zelenskyy also painted the attack as a message: "It is time the war ended and Russia must take the necessary steps in diplomacy," he wrote. Yet within hours, Russia's Defense Ministry announced it had carried out "precision strikes" on Ukrainian defense and energy facilities in response to Ukraine's drone attack.