According to a report by Astra, it was a missile launched from a Russian air defense system that struck a tank at the Moscow Refinery in Kapotnya on June 18, triggering an iconic explosion and subsequent fire at the plant. The outlet cited its own OSINT analysis to justify the conclusion.
Published videos show a powerful explosion tearing off the roof of a fuel tank. Notably, one angle captures a contrail characteristic of air defense interceptors, allowing for the missile’s flight trajectory to be deduced.
The launch was allegedly carried out by a Pantsir air defense missile-gun system. The previous day, Ukrainian blogger Denys Kazanskyi had put forward the same theory about a friendly-fire air defense incident.
The hypothesis that a Russian missile struck the tank is supported by the analysis of Russian pro-war Telegram channel Voyenny Osvedomitel (Military Informant), which writes that the footage shows “an anti-aircraft missile (or a MANPADS missile)” hitting the fuel storage facility.
Photos and footage of the torn-off tank roof rising into the air became one of the most widely discussed images following the June 18 nighttime attack on Moscow. According to Russian authorities, the strike was the largest ever Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital in the past two years.
Based on published images, the strike on the Kapotnya oil refinery hit several key facilities at the plant simultaneously, marking the third attack on the refinery in less than a month and the second in the past two days.
