Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow in Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major ⁠oil refinery on fire and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described the attack as a response to Russia’s striking of a historic Kyiv monastery complex earlier this week.

“We do not want this war and never did,” Zelenskyy said in a voice message to journalists.

“But if Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too … It is time to end the aggression, time to end this war.”

The scale of the long-range attack, apparently designed to shut down operations at the key oil refinery in the Kapotno area, caught most people by surprise in a city that does not typically warn residents with air raid alarms, and prompted panicked messages on social media.

Footage posted online showed three plumes of smoke rising from the Kapotno refinery. The strike was the second in two days on the facility.

Moscow’s energy facility

The refinery, one of Moscow’s most important energy facilities, supplies up to 40 per cent of the capital’s petrol and about 50 per cent of its diesel fuel.Russia said its ⁠air defence systems intercepted and ⁠destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones over ⁠multiple regions ‌overnight.

The number actually shot down could not be independently confirmed. Vladimir Putin is in Kazan, 430 miles (700km) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties.

Kyiv was hit this week by a major strike of ballistic missiles and drones in a marked escalation of the air war. Putin had warned of impending “systemic strikes” on Ukraine.The Moscow attack came hours after Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the US and France and had won vital pledges of further support from this week’s international G7 summit.

Zelenskyy was expected to hold talks in Brussels on Thursday with Nato and EU leaders, including about the possibility of a system to defend against ballistic missiles. Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defences struggle to counter.

Five people were killed in Kyiv, and the Dormition Cathedral in the Pechersk Lavra monastery complex – a Unesco world heritage site and one of Ukraine’s most significant religious and cultural sites – was badly damaged on Monday.

Hybrid drone-cruise missiles

Footage of the Moscow strikes appeared to show the use of Ukrainian Bars hybrid drone-cruise missiles, first used last year.

They had been believed to have a range of 600-800km, designed for precision targeting, but their use against Moscow would suggest a longer range.

Ukraine is rapidly catching up with Russia in its ability to mass-produce long-range strike weapons. Kyiv has stepped up its drone strikes on Russia in recent months, hitting oil refineries that fund Moscow’s war chest, as diplomatic talks on ending the conflict remain stalled.

Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said: “Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the [Moscow oil refinery].”