{"text":[[{"start":6.95,"text":"For many Muscovites, the first warning that the war was coming closer was not an official alert but drones overhead at night, followed by explosions at the capital’s largest oil refinery."}],[{"start":18.25,"text":"As Ukraine has stepped up its drone campaign against Moscow this spring, residents in the Russian capital have sheltered in basements, watched businesses burn and found cars spattered with toxic “oil rain” — signs of a conflict the Kremlin has long tried to keep at a distance from the capital."}],[{"start":35.3,"text":"“If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on June 18, when Moscow’s main refinery was set ablaze, sending a huge plume of smoke into the sky. "}],[{"start":48.949999999999996,"text":"Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks have intensified in response to Russia’s devastating air strikes on Kyiv and other cities."}],[{"start":56.099999999999994,"text":"The Russian capital has become noticeably more exposed to drone attacks, which have increased since the spring in both “frequency and effectiveness”, said Konrad Muzyka, director of Rochan Consulting, a Polish analytical group monitoring the war. "}],[{"start":70.3,"text":"Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences had shot down 250 drones approaching Moscow over two days in March, the largest such attack at the time. On June 18, when the refinery caught fire, a new record was set with 180 downed on a single day. "}],[{"start":88.3,"text":"That attack also sent many Muscovites into underground car parks, corridors and bathrooms for safety, many of them for the first time since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022."}],[{"start":101.3,"text":"“I had a dream that we were being bombed. Then I woke up at half past four, realising it was not a dream,” recalled Amalia, a young mother living in Kotelniki, a commuter suburb in the south-east of Moscow. "}],[{"start":113.85,"text":"Over the next few hours, while Amalia and her child were hiding in the stairwell, she said, a house across the street, a supermarket and the refinery were hit."}],[{"start":123.64999999999999,"text":"Like other Muscovites, Amalia said she received no warning from the authorities."}],[{"start":128.5,"text":"Comments under posts on the Moscow region governor’s Telegram channel carried similar complaints. “We hear a drone coming, we run to the corridor — and an hour later there is a warning on the mayor’s Telegram,” wrote Olga, a resident of Khimki, a Moscow suburb."}],[{"start":143.95,"text":"“So no VPN — no warning,” she added, referring to the fact that some official alerts were being posted on Telegram even as access to the messaging app was restricted or disrupted. "}],[{"start":155.1,"text":"Officials from municipalities around Moscow said alerts were not issued because drones “can fly as low as one metre above the ground”, rising only as they approach their target. “If sirens are activated, people will run outside in panic, which will lead to significant casualties,” said one message."}],[{"start":173.54999999999998,"text":"The frustration has intensified beyond the lack of warnings. Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries have contributed to fuel shortages, prompting anger online at official claims that supplies remain unaffected."}],[{"start":186.1,"text":"“Some say there is a fuel shortage in Russia. It’s all a fake,” Moscow-based blogger Mikhail Vitte said sarcastically in an Instagram video. “Look, there was oil rain! We have so fucking much we don’t know what to do with it,” he added, touching a white car covered in black droplets."}],[{"start":203.7,"text":"He was one of many residents of Moscow suburbs who witnessed what they called “oil rains” after the June 18 attack. Local authorities downplayed the reports, saying the black drops were “combustion products”."}],[{"start":216.89999999999998,"text":"But ecologist Igor Shkhradyuk said that “basic physics” indicated the droplets were caused by burning tonnes of petrol. Soot and oil vapours in such quantities were especially dangerous for vulnerable people and animals who “cannot wash themselves off”, Shkhradyuk said."}],[{"start":234.04999999999998,"text":"The blaze at the refinery also spread to Russia’s largest wholesale market Sadovod, burning through rows of shops and months’ worth of stock, with traders estimating losses of millions of roubles."}],[{"start":247.24999999999997,"text":"“We saw what we had built reduced to this,” a co-owner of a clothing shop wrote under an Instagram reel showing a charred heap of clothes. “Tears were streaming, my legs gave way,” she said."}],[{"start":259.25,"text":"A woman from Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and has frequently come under fire, said: “I am not proud of saying it, but I am somewhat glad that people in Moscow will finally experience the life regions like ours have been living for years.”"}],[{"start":276.2,"text":"Andrei Kolesnikov, a political scientist and Moscow resident, found ignoring the attacks was “impossible”. But for many, they have become “just a new reality” unless they are directly hit."}],[{"start":288.09999999999997,"text":"“Moscow is huge — the west and east of the city are almost different countries,” Kolesnikov said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":294.74999999999994,"text":"The authorities announced no reinforcement of the capital’s defences, though footage on Russian Telegram channels appeared to show Pantsir systems on rooftops in at least three Moscow districts."}],[{"start":306.34999999999997,"text":"Dig, a narrative intelligence firm that studies social media videos, found that 30 per cent of high-engagement posts from Russia after the June 18 attack mocked the country’s “best air defence in the world”. "}],[{"start":318.74999999999994,"text":"Yet there is no sign that this wave of discontent will have any impact on Putin."}],[{"start":324.79999999999995,"text":"Speaking to graduates of military academies on Tuesday, the Russian president said that drone strikes intended to “destabilise society” and “sow doubt” about the Russian military’s alleged advances along the entire front line."}],[{"start":339.04999999999995,"text":"Kolesnikov pointed out that the drone attacks had only hardened the stance of war opponents but also of hawks who call for nuclear strikes. “For Putin, the pressure is a spur to escalate.”"}],[{"start":350.94999999999993,"text":"Satellite image visualisation by Carolina Vargas"}],[{"start":362.19999999999993,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782465659_9234.mp3"}