Ukrainian forces struck several Russian defense industrial plants and oil infrastructure objects in Moscow City and Moscow Oblast overnight on May 16 to 17, hitting targets that sit deep inside the country’s political and industrial core. The attacks reached a semiconductor plant in Zelenograd, an oil pumping station near Durykino, the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya Raion and the Volodarsk oil pumping station southeast of Moscow City.
The Ukrainian General Staff and Ukraine’s Security Service said on May 17 that Ukrainian forces struck the Angstrem Semiconductor Plant at the Elma Technopark in Zelenograd, where microelectronics are produced for high precision weapons. A geolocated image published the same day showed a smoke plume above the plant. A Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces unit also said it hit the Elma Technopark, and Russian opposition outlet Astra posted footage of a fire there after the strike.
The same overnight wave also reached fuel infrastructure. The Ukrainian General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck the Solnechnogorsk oil pumping station near Durykino, which pumps, stores and ships large volumes of fuel for Russian forces. Geolocated footage showed a large fire at the site. The Security Service of Ukraine said separately that Ukrainian forces struck the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya Raion and the Volodarsk oil pumping station. Geolocated footage showed a smoke plume at the refinery after an audible explosion.
Sergei Sobyanin acknowledged on May 17 that Ukrainian forces struck the Moscow Oil Refinery, but said the attack did not disrupt operations and that only the refinery’s checkpoint was hit. Moscow Oblast Governor Andrei Vorobyov said Ukrainian drones hit several infrastructure facilities and that drone strikes and debris also damaged residential areas. Sobyanin said Russian forces downed over 120 drones over Moscow City on May 16 and 17.
The strikes came after Russia intensified its own strike series against Ukraine on May 13 and 14, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 17 that the attacks in Moscow Oblast were a response to Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities. The Ukrainian General Staff said the overnight operation used RS-1, FP-1 and BARS-SM drones. Astra also reported that a fire broke out at a runway at Sheremetyevo International Airport after airport authorities said drone wreckage hit the runway.
For Moscow, the strikes showed how far the war has pushed beyond Ukraine’s borders and into the capital region’s energy and military supply network. For residents in Moscow Oblast, Vorobyov’s account of damaged residential areas underscored a second line of risk: the drones were not only hitting factories and fuel sites, but also spilling into civilian space. The next question is not whether Moscow will keep reinforcing air defenses. It is how long Russia can absorb repeated attacks on the infrastructure that helps keep its war machine running.
