MOSCOW: In the Moscow district of Maryino, shopkeeper Andrei Kondratyev braced for more Ukrainian attacks and possible petrol shortages, saying Russians needed to “get used to a new reality''.

A day earlier, Kyiv set an oil refinery ablaze in the nearby Kapotnya area in its biggest drone attack on the Russian capital in years engulfing the Russian capital in smoke.

Such scenes were unthinkable when Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022, but have in recent months become part of life in Russia.

Kyiv has sent drones into Russia as far as the Urals in retaliation for Moscow bombing its cities daily.

“We need to already get used to the fact that it can happen anywhere and to anyone. I think we just need to hold it together,” 47-year-old Kondratyev said.

The strikes killed one person — an eight-year-old girl -- and wounded over a dozen.

Kondratyev said he was also readying himself for other side effects of the Ukrainian strikes on oil depots that have made life less comfortable, such as petrol shortages.

Some Russian regions have been hit by fuel shortages that have so far not been severe.

“There will probably be a small lowering in petrol supplies, but authorities have said — and we hope for it — that supplies will continue to arrive,” Kondratyev said.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2026