kyiv launched dozens of drones against Moscow, which set fire to a refinery, caused spectacular columns of smoke in the city and the cancellation of hundreds of flights at its airports.

“The most important thing is that the Russian people are beginning to feel that it is a man, Putin, who is waging this war, while ordinary people pay the price,” Zelensky said in an audio message sent to the press.

“We do not want this war and we have never wanted it (…) But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will also burn,” he threatened.

Ukraine's biggest attack on Moscow in two years

The Russian state agency TASS said it was the biggest attack on Moscow in at least two years.

It coincides with the meeting that President Vladimir Putin holds with Southeast Asian leaders in the city of Kazan, about 700 km east of the Russian capital.

And it comes a day after the close of the G7 summit, in which the group agreed to increase pressure against Russia to end the war.

Ukraine burns refinery and disrupts airports

According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, anti-aircraft defenses shot down 180 drones that were approaching the city.

The Ministry of Defense claimed to have intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones throughout the country during the early hours of the morning.

However, several drones hit an important Moscow MNPZ refinery, in what the mayor of the capital, Seguéi Sobyanin, defined as a “large-scale” attack.

The attack also forced Moscow airports to close for hours, and hundreds of flights were delayed.

The most important, Sheremetyevo, announced that it had to evacuate passengers to “safe places” during the attack, before being able to reopen around eleven in the morning (0800 GMT).

Another drone crashed into an apartment building in the Zhukovsky area. The remains of another device caused a fire in a shopping center near the capital, added the regional governor, Andrei Vorobyov.