By John Q. Hosedrinker 
On September 12, Russia experienced a large-scale overnight drone attack targeting multiple regions, including Moscow and Leningrad Oblast. Russian officials reported intercepting 221 Ukrainian drones, though these reports were unverified at the time of publication. The attacks resulted in fires at a vessel in Primorsk Port and a Lukoil facility in Smolensk, while the St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport was temporarily shut down. Drone debris fell in various locations, causing flight disruptions and prompting emergency responses in Moscow.
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Drones target Moscow, Russian oil facilities in reported large-scale Ukrainian strike, and the news certainly feels like a turning point. We’re talking about a significant overnight attack, as Russian officials and media report, with multiple regions across Russia, including the capital, being targeted. It’s a bold move, and the implications are huge.
Explosions near Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Smolensk, that’s what the reports are saying. Add to that the closure of Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg due to the drone threat, and you start to get a sense of the scale of the operation. The details are still emerging, but the fact that air travel has been disrupted and strategic locations hit speaks volumes.
Reports indicate that at least nine Ukrainian drones were shot down near Moscow. The Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed this via Telegram, but he didn’t offer specifics on where the drones were downed or any details about damage or casualties. It’s worth noting that the mayor of a major city is directly involved in this, which adds a layer of significance.
Russian Telegram channels, relying on resident accounts, are providing details about explosions in the Moscow Oblast communities of Mozhaysk and Dedovsk, which are located close to the capital’s outskirts. Explosions were also reported by residents in Smolensk, with eyewitness accounts claiming that the drones hit a nearby Lukoil facility. Video footage purportedly shows smoke and flames rising from a substantial fire at an undisclosed location, and it is very difficult to get reliable information during such events.
The scope of the attack seems quite broad. In St. Petersburg, the Pulkovo Airport was forced to shut down due to the drone threat, and air defenses were reportedly active over multiple districts in the region. Residents of Tosno, a town not far from St. Petersburg, also reported explosions.
The targeting of oil facilities is particularly interesting. Oil is critical to the Russian war effort, and if these attacks are successful and continue, they could have a real impact on Russia’s ability to wage war. Of course, there are potential wider implications. Disrupting factory production and inconveniencing ordinary Russians who support the war effort, as some are suggesting, adds another dimension to the strategy.
At this point, The Kyiv Independent is unable to verify these reports, and Ukraine’s military has not commented. But the fact that these reports are out there, and the scale of the reported attacks, indicate that Ukraine is willing to take the fight to Russia directly. It is a shift in tactics that is sure to be debated and analyzed for some time to come.
The whole situation also shows a level of determination and resilience, on the part of Ukrainians, that is truly remarkable.
This conflict is far from over, and these events only underscore its complexity and the high stakes involved. The international community, of course, is watching all of this closely.