" If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too ": this was the message from Volodymyr Zelensky after the Russian capital was targeted on the night between Wednesday and Thursday by the largest attack in the last two years , with the launch of 180 drones by Ukrainian forces. The bombings then struck again, sparking a second fire in three days at Moscow's main refinery , southeast of the city center, as well as an apartment building and shopping centers, according to local authorities. Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov warned that "all this certainly does not favor" a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, which the latter has repeatedly requested to end the conflict.

And Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised that, in response to the Ukrainian strikes, Russian forces will continue "regular, large-scale strikes against targets that directly impact the combat capability of Ukraine's armed forces." According to the Defense Ministry, 555 drones were launched across Russia, making the latest attack the second largest since the start of the conflict. All four of Moscow's international airports were closed to traffic for hours. This was all while in the city of Kazan, 700 kilometers to the east, Putin was attending a summit with the 11 ASEAN countries, which are interested in maintaining trade ties with Russia, seen as a secure energy supplier. After the Ukrainian attacks, large columns of black smoke rose from the Gazprom refinery located in Kapotnya , on the outskirts of Moscow. After several hours, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the flames had been largely extinguished. The governor of the capital region, Andrey Vorobyov, reported 17 injuries, including two children aged 3 and 10. Russian sources also reported damage to two shopping malls and a residential tower in the southeastern suburbs, not far from the refinery. A man was also killed in a Ukrainian raid in the Rostov region, and two girls aged 10 and 11 were injured when the car they were traveling in with their mother was hit in the Bryansk region. According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian attacks, which now regularly target refineries and other oil infrastructure even hundreds of kilometers from the border, are intended to make the "Russian people" understand that "one man, Putin, is waging this war while ordinary people pay the full price." "In recent days, all our partners have witnessed the precision and effectiveness of our strikes," added the Ukrainian president, who at the G7 summit acknowledged the joint commitment of the Europeans and the US to continue their "unwavering military and political support" for Ukraine.

According to Moscow, however, this was the result of US President Donald Trump being "stuffed with useless, if not harmful, ideas" by the Europeans. The latter "clearly insist that the war must continue, and are guided by the completely erroneous and false premise that the situation on the battlefield is supposedly changing in favor of Ukrainian forces, which is categorically false," said adviser Ushakov. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, on the other hand, declared himself convinced that "Ukraine is shifting the balance of power on the battlefield and inflicting enormous losses on Russia." But it will be able to continue doing so, Rutte added at the end of the defense ministerial meeting, "only if we step up our support, not only for immediate needs, such as air defense, but also by exploring how we can collaborate in the long term to ensure that Ukraine can remain sovereign, free, and secure."

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to be targeted by Russian strikes. During the night between Wednesday and Thursday, the country was attacked by seven missiles and 239 drones, according to the Kiev Air Force. Two people were killed and 17 injured in Dnipropetrovsk, and one man died in the Sumy region, according to local authorities.

(Unioneonline)

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