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What did Ukraine's Moscow drone strike change?
Summary
A look back at the exchange of threats that followed the attack on the Moscow Refinery.
What did Ukraine's drone strike on Moscow signal? On 18 June 2026, Ukraine launched what was reported as its largest ever drone attack on the Russian capital, targeting the Moscow Refinery and damaging several residential buildings.
Residents of Moscow reported oil raining down, and massive plumes of black smoke were visible over the city.
Threats on both sides
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the events with a warning aimed at Moscow. If Ukraine burns, he said, Moscow will burn too, a message directed against further Russian attacks on his country.
Russia answered in kind. It said it would carry out a "massive retaliation" against Ukraine. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the Russian Armed Forces would, from then on, carry out "massive group strikes" on a "regular basis" following the attack on Moscow.
An opinion on the day
The exchange on 18 June 2026 was notable for its plainness. Both sides stated openly that strikes would continue, and each tied its own actions to the other's. The scale of the drone attack and the language that followed it made the day one in which the war's reach into the Russian capital was not in doubt.
