On the night of June 18, residents of a number of districts of Moscow and the Moscow region witnessed the largest drone attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the beginning of the war. At least 17 people were injured in the area. City Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claims that nearly 200 drones were shot down as they approached the capital. Due to fires at the Moscow Refinery and the Sadovod and MEGA Belaya Dacha shopping centers, the sky over Kapotnya, Lyubertsy and their environs was covered with black clouds, and some residents of these areas complained of “oil rain.” State media ignored the largest drone attack on the Russian capital; Z preachers and bloggers advised Muscovites “Don’t be hysterical.” They “tipped their hats” to the air defense in the capital. Cooperative of Independent Journalists “Berij” visited In the areas that were subjected to the Ukrainian attack, he tells how that day passed. Meduza is publishing this report in full.
Be careful, this text contains profanity. If this is not acceptable to you, do not read it.
– Will we reach Sadovod? – asked a swarthy, gray-haired man in a light T-shirt as he ran to the bus.
The driver sternly answers the passenger: “The gardener is on fire and no one is allowed into it.” – I’m not kidding!
It is not surprising that the elderly passenger did not know about the fire in the shopping complex: federal channels again ignored news about Ukrainian drone attacks. At night, drones attacked the south of Moscow and the area near Moscow: they crashed into several residential buildings and hit the Moscow Oil Refinery (MNPZ), the Mega Belaya Dacha shopping and entertainment center, and the Sadovod shopping complex.
Several residents of southeastern Moscow told Pereg that they were awakened by the sound of a “terrible roar”: the attacks began at around 5 a.m. There were no reports of these attacks either in the media or in official sources early in the morning, so Berig’s interlocutors independently tried to find out what was happening and exchanged photos, videos and information in home chats.
“Someone wrote that [ВСУ] “They are allegedly ‘editing’ based on photos and videos. But many people tell them that this is nonsense and that this is our only way to know anything about the situation,” says a Muscovite who lives near Kotelniki metro station.
Berig’s other interlocutors did not notice anything. “I have impenetrable double-glazed windows, I don’t hear anything at all, and I don’t care about this whole situation,” says the Vikino resident frankly. “It doesn’t bother me at all: I watch football, play video games, drink beer and spend time with my son.”
The interviewer from Lublin, neighboring Kotelniki, only realized something was wrong when he looked outside. “[Спросонья решил]”It was very cloudy outside, but then I thought the clouds were very dark and low. I looked and there was a guard there,” explains a Moscow resident.
* * *
As soon as the bus left the Kuzminki metro station, Pereg’s correspondent saw what the interviewers were talking about. First, a black and blue column of rising smoke appeared in the window above the Sadovod market, then another similar column – from the Moscow oil refinery. By this hour, only they are still burning in the city; The fire at Mega Belaya Dasha was extinguished at noon. The smoke spreading across the sky actually resembles a thundercloud.
The bus stops at Belaya Dacha stop, closest to Sadovod Market, and the driver opens the doors. The cabin smelled strongly of burnt plastic. The sound of helicopters can be heard – transporting fire extinguishing materials from the air.
After a few more stops, Pereg’s correspondent finds himself in Kotelniki, near Moscow. Here is one of the apartment buildings that the drone hit. Helicopters are still flying in the sky, there is a heavy smell of burning in the air, and clouds of black smoke appear. Entrances to homes are decorated with copies of the Victory Banner – bright red, with a hammer and sickle. Apparently, they were hanged on the occasion of the upcoming anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War.
A short man wearing jeans and a black jacket enters a hardware store on the ground floor of an apartment building.
“Do you have a regular dustpan?” – asks the saleswoman sitting behind the counter. “Something needs to be done to remove the glass.”
The saleswoman, who is almost uninterested in the buyer, gestures to show where to look for the product. She is busy talking on the phone. Less than a minute later, the man returns to her with a bright green dustpan in his hands.
– Are there any discounts for victims? – asks the saleswoman while smiling. She looks up from the phone. Sincere concern appears on her face. She responded sympathetically: “This is not my store, I will give it away for free.” -And you are from the sixteenth house, right?
This house in the New Kotelniki complex is the same house where the drone crashed. The damage was particularly severe on three floors, including the 24th floor, where the victim lived. All the windows in his apartment were shattered. The family was home this morning, but there were no serious injuries, the buyer told the seller. He speaks casually, as if we were talking about something quite familiar.
“Thank God, they were able to jump: I was just hit by shrapnel, and that’s all.”
– Oh, you should see a doctor then!
– Yes, I really was.
The saleswoman nods: In the morning she had to call an ambulance. Another resident of the damaged building fainted at the store. After learning that it was his neighbor on the 21st floor (who was almost unaffected by the explosion), the scooper shrugged it off with a smile: “He was probably just scared.”
* * *
A path of broken glass leads to the house that was hit by the drone. The more fragments there are on the sidewalk, the closer the high-rise building will be.
There are almost no spectators here: the blow hit the facade that opens onto the courtyard, where only residents can enter. After the Ukrainian attack, this space was also fenced off with red and white tape.
Many curious people were still gathered in the corner of the building. Their attention was drawn to a pile of smoking metal debris, which was all that remained of the drone. It is unclear whether this is the same drone that attacked the high-rise building.
“They’re like a little plane, they even have an engine!” – says enthusiastically a woman of about 50 in a beige jacket.
“There’s something else written there,” the blonde-haired teen snaps. – In Ukrainian!
A woman in a light jacket examines the wreckage curiously: there is indeed an inscription on it, but it cannot be distinguished – too much has been damaged by the fire. To find more areas containing text, the woman begins sorting through the debris with her hands. The policeman lazily watches what is happening without making any comment.
“No, it’s not clear,” the woman finally gave in. “What an incomprehensible language!”
Another resident in the area approaches the high-rise building. She told the audience that her friend lives in Building 16 and asked them if her apartment could have been damaged.
– What floor are they on? — A young man of about 18, wearing a tracksuit, asks anxiously.
– Eighth.
– No, he was not hurt.
-What a sturdy build! – The woman is impressed.
The teen nodded politely and turned to his friend – they were discussing what would happen to the oil refinery.
“There is no way to put it out, all you have to do is wait for it to burn,” a young man in a tracksuit explains to his friend.
– Yes, and then fix it somehow.
-No one will fix it! There will be more tonight [атака].
– God forbid!
The Moscow refinery was already attacked by Ukrainian drones on the morning of June 16. Local residents are confident that the Ukrainian armed forces will try to do everything in their power to put the refinery out of service for a long time. This, according to the young man, will require a third strike.
“Something is starting to happen more often, why wasn’t it like this before?” – The woman who came to inquire about her friend’s apartment interjects into the conversation again. – The state is doing something wrong, isn’t it? [украинские военные] They started sending us more often [свои дроны]».
This time no one maintains a dialogue with her.
* * *
At three o’clock in the afternoon, employees of the management company appear near the house and finally remove the broken glass from the sidewalk. Many residents of the house watch the work of the cleaners at the entrance. The houses of this residential complex are interconnected: you can walk out of the entrance onto the street and into the enclosed courtyard. This is where some residents want to go, but the guards curse them loudly.
“First they throw [свои вещи]And then: How do we get there now? — A security guard complains to his colleague and points to the upper floors. – That’s where it all comes from [осколки] Flies! Are you laughing? Do you want adventure for yourself and us?
Unlike the streets surrounding the high-rise building, almost nothing was cleaned in the enclosed courtyard: the playground and lawns were covered with glass and fragments of facade tiles. There are also dozens of twisted mosquito nets and plastic window frames.
Rain begins to fall, and the population of the area gradually disperses. In the morning they wrote in the telegram channels that due to a fire at the Moscow refinery in the Moscow region He complained To “oil rain”. The one caught by Bereg’s correspondent in Kotelniki turned out to be ordinary – he did not leave any black spots or a specific smell on the skin.
There are more helicopters in the sky: one after another they fly over Kotelniki carrying firefighting equipment towards the gardener.
Fire engines are heading in the same direction.
On Dzerzhinskoe Highway there is a large commercial building – the facade and roof completely burned out, and next to it is a pile of charred, twisted metal. The building contained a canteen, warehouses, stores of building materials and several small businesses.
There are at least a dozen fire engines parked nearby, which appear to have recently finished putting out the fire. Neither the media nor the authorities reported that a missile or drone struck this particular building. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote that about 200 drones were shot down this morning.
The terrain, which consists mainly of industrial areas, is difficult to navigate. GPS in this area is not working properly. Ordering a taxi is also not easy: according to the data in the application, you will have to wait more than 20 minutes for the car.
It is unclear whether public transportation routes have changed due to the closures. There is almost no one on the street.
The parking lot in front of Mega Belaya Dacha is unusually empty even on weekdays. The media wrote that the shopping center was bombed by drones, but by this hour there were no noticeable signs of the attack – except that Mega itself was not working. On this day, spectators use the territory of the shopping center as an observation deck: from there they can clearly see how the “Gardener” is burning and how they are trying to extinguish it from the air.
“It seems to me that the whole “Garden” will burn to the ground – it will go out,” says a thin young man in black to his pink-haired companion. She nodded hesitantly. The wind picks up and little drops, as if from a spray bottle, start flying onto your face.
“By the way, this is water from a helicopter, not rain,” the young man said refreshedly.
– truly?
– Yes, of course. Everything that is scattered there reaches us. Well, let’s find a way to get to the bottom of things.
“shore” With sharing Elizaveta Antonova