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Ukrainian drones target Moscow, oil refinery in deadly attack, Russian officials say

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Brennan, D. (2026, September 20). Ukrainian drones target Moscow, oil refinery in deadly attack, Russian officials say. ABC News (US). https://abcnews.com/International/ukrainian-drones-target-moscow-oil-refinery-deadly-attack/story?id=136595832

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

ABC News (US) · collected 2026-09-20 · by David Brennan

Quick Summary

Russian officials reported that at least two people were killed and several others injured when Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow’s oil refinery and a residential building over the weekend. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated that about 450 out of around 1,110 targeted drones were shot down by Russian defenses during the attack. The incident also led to temporary flight restrictions at all four international airports in Moscow.
Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On September 20, 2026, Ukraine launched what was described as the largest drone attack ever against the Russian capital, Moscow, during the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections. More than 1,600 drones were intercepted and shot down across Russia, with 450 targeting Moscow specifically. Two people were killed in the attacks: a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man, both in separate incidents in the Moscow region. Additionally, a major oil refinery near Moscow was damaged by one of the drones.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the tightly controlled elections, which were held from September 18-20. President Vladimir Putin's ruling party is expected to maintain its dominance in the vote, reflecting his ongoing control over Russian politics since New Year’s Eve 1999.

Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure recently, targeting critical revenue sources for Russia's war effort in Ukraine, which entered its fifth year. The timing of these drone strikes coincided with Putin’s framing of the election as a referendum on support for his military actions.

Written for “Ukraine Drone Attacks Moscow” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 28 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Ukraine Drone Attacks Moscow
Politics · 29 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 16% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 66/100
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 9 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 0 of 13 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 0 of 19 claims Outlet record 66/100
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 2 of 16 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Hindu
Hedges 0 of 15 claims Outlet record 60/100
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 64/100
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 68/100
South China Morning Post
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 64/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
16%
3 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
70/100
ABC News (US)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
29
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (US) · 1268 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

David Brennan
22 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The two coalitions led by Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot may need the backing of the Arab-Israeli parties to have any chance of a majority in the Knesset.
🔮 "These discussions were constructive, and will continue with trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine at the technical level," Witkoff said in a post to X. Zelenskyy said the Russian strikes were "demonstrative" and indicated "no real changes in its attitude towards everything that is happening."
🔮 Police said that the two suspects "spent several months researching school shootings and discussed how they could carry out a potential attack at Corona High School on an unspecified future date." "Communications showed the suspects discussed methods to obtain weapons but had not yet been able to do so.
🔮 The protests come ahead of the next French presidential elections in April 2027, which will mark the end of President Emmanuel Macron's two terms in power.
🔮 "We are considering this from every possible angle. Including, that this may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state."
🔮 After that, she said, more locals began to leave the only way they could -- on foot.
🔮 Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that Tehran will not allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz until all of its conditions have been met.
🔮 Plumes of smoke rose over Moscow on Sunday morning after Ukraine's latest massed drone attack on the city in which a major oil refinery was among the targets, according to the Russian capital's mayor.
🔮 In a post to Telegram on Friday night, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for signing what he called "critically important legislation," extending his thanks to "all the senators and members of the House of Representatives who supported it." "When Lindsey Graham was here in Ukraine, he would always talk about how important it was not to ease pressure on Russia, to strengthen sanctions and seek a path to peace," Zelenskyy wrote.
🔮 Buffett, 96, is now chairman emeritus of the company and will remain a director, Berkshire Hathaway said.
Also by David Brennan
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 22 articles by David Brennan →

Topics

Moscow Russia Russian Telegram Ukrainian

Subjects

Moscow GPE · 10× Russia GPE · 5× Telegram ORG · 5× Russian NORP · 4× Ukraine GPE · 4× Ukrainian NORP · 4× Vorobyov PERSON · 3× Kyiv ORG · 2× Sofino GPE · 2× LONDON GPE · 1×

Narrative

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said in a post to Telegram that a "major incident is occurring" at the refinery, which he said "supplies fuel to their capital city." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that Kyiv's long-range strikes "had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night," reporting a hit on "one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities" which he said contributes "billions of dollars" to Russia's "war machine." "Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions," Zelenskyy wrote.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20
🔮 Plumes of smoke rose over Moscow on Sunday morning after Ukraine's latest massed drone attack on the city in which a major oil refinery was among the targets, according to the Russian capital's mayor.

Claims (19 extracted, 3 hedged)

Ukrainian drones target Moscow, oil refinery in deadly attack, Russian officials say asserted
officials → target → attack
At least two people were killed in the attacks, Moscow's governor said. asserted
governor → kill → attacks
Plumes of smoke rose over Moscow on Sunday morning after Ukraine's latest massed drone attack on the city in which a major oil refinery was among the targets, according to the Russian capital's mayor. uncertain
refinery → rise → mayor
Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram that 450 Ukrainian drones were shot down while heading toward the capital on Saturday night into Sunday morning, describing the latest attack as "unprecedented." "Several drones did reach the territory of the Moscow Oil Refinery, and one hit a residential building. asserted
one → say → building
There were no fatalities," Sobyanin wrote, suggesting that the attack was "clearly planned to disrupt" the ongoing Russian parliamentary elections, voting in which is due to end on Sunday. asserted
voting → be → Sunday
The Gazprom-MNPZ refinery sits southeast of Moscow city and is operated by the state-run energy giant Gazprom. asserted
refinery → sit → giant
The facility has a reported processing capacity of around 11 million tons of oil per year, making it one of the country's largest such sites. asserted
it → have → sites
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said in a post to Telegram that a "major incident is occurring" at the refinery, which he said "supplies fuel to their capital city." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that Kyiv's long-range strikes "had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night," reporting a hit on "one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities" which he said contributes "billions of dollars" to Russia's "war machine." "Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions," Zelenskyy wrote. asserted
Zelenskyy → operate → regions
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, reported in a post to Telegram that one person was killed and five others injured when a drone hit an apartment block in Sofino, to the southwest of Moscow city. asserted
drone → report → city
Another person was killed in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky area to the east of the capital, Vorobyov said, with one person also injured in the southern Leninsky district. asserted
person → kill → district
A total of 20 people were injured in the attacks, Vorobyov said. asserted
Vorobyov → injure → attacks
Vorobyov also reported a fire at an apartment building in the Ramensky district to the southwest of the capital -- which prompted an evacuation of 400 people and damage to 20 cars -- a fire at a warehouse complex in Sofino and a "serious fire" at an apartment building in Kotelniki, southeast of Moscow. asserted
which → report → Moscow
All four of Moscow's international airports -- Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo -- were put under temporary flight restrictions overnight, according to Rosaviatsiya, Russia's federal air transport agency. uncertain
four → put → Rosaviatsiya
The restrictions were lifted on Sunday morning. asserted
restrictions → lift → morning
Russia's Defense Ministry said it shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones overnight -- the largest overnight figure ever reported by the ministry, according to ABC News analysis of its Telegram statements. uncertain
it → say → statements
Ukraine's air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 138 drones into the country overnight, of which 101 were intercepted or otherwise suppressed. asserted
101 → say → which
Around half of the drones launched were jet-powered, the air force said. asserted
force → launch → drones
Impacts were reported in 17 locations, the air force added. asserted
force → report → locations
Ukraine's State Emergency Service said that three people -- among them two children -- were killed in a Russian attack on the Kyiv region. asserted
people → say → region
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