Ukrainian forces have launched a massive drone strike targeting a Moscow oil refinery for the second time this week, forcing flight suspensions at Russia’s busiest airport, Sheremetyevo, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intensifies diplomatic talks with US President Donald Trump and G7 leaders to negotiate an end to the four-year-long war.

According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, its air defenses intercepted 555 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple regions, with nearly 200 shot down on their approach to the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed that several drones breached defenses to strike the oil refinery, which had already seen its operations halted following a previous drone assault on Tuesday. The strikes have compounded Russia’s domestic fuel crisis and caused structural damage to a nearby high-rise residential building, private homes, and a shopping center in the Moscow region.

In retaliation, Russia launched a wave of ballistic missiles at Kyiv on Thursday, marking its second major air assault on the Ukrainian capital this week. The escalations follow an earlier Russian strike on Kyiv that killed 11 people and damaged a UNESCO-listed 1,000-year-old monastery—an attack that drew sharp condemnation from European leaders but was denied by Moscow.

The operational intensification on the battlefield coincides with a high-stakes diplomatic push by President Zelenskyy. Following meetings at the G7 summit in France, Zelenskyy confirmed he has engaged in direct discussions with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other global leaders to outline potential frameworks to end the conflict.

In response, G7 leaders pledged to tighten sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sectors to squeeze its war economy, alongside providing a comprehensive winter support package and advanced air defense missiles to Ukraine. Highlighting the diplomatic momentum, President Trump stated he is prepared to “do whatever I can” to halt the hostilities, while Zelenskyy emphasized that these international commitments are vital to ensuring Russia learns “its war will never be normalised.”