In June 2025, a video circulated online claiming to show Ukrainian forces striking a missile production factory in the Russian capital of Moscow with long-range Taurus missiles.
The video circulated as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on June 1, 2025, that Ukraine successfully hit cruise missile carriers in multiple Russian regions in an attack that involved 117 drones.
The footage appeared in a popular X post (archived) and featured on-screen text reading, in Russian: "A fighter armed with a 'Taurus' can reach Moscow from the Kharkov region! Take care of yourself, God help us." Kharkov, or Kharkiv in Ukrainian, is a city and region in northeastern Ukraine about 400 miles south of Moscow.
(X user @Lyla_lilas)
The claim and clip appeared elsewhere on X (archived) and on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Bluesky (archived).
However, the video was miscaptioned. It does not show a Ukrainian strike on Moscow on June 1, 2025, amid the Ukrainian drone raid within Russian territory. The footage originally circulated in late December 2023, following a Ukrainian strike on the port of Feodosia in the Russian-controlled region of Crimea. That strike reportedly damaged the Russian warship Novocherkassk.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command did not confirm what type of weapons it used in the 2023 strike, which killed at least one person, according to Russian media. British reports suggested it could have been Storm Shadow missiles, which the U.K. has supplied to Ukraine. Russian-language media also mentioned Storm Shadow missiles. Regardless, it was unlikely to be Taurus missiles, a long-range weapon made by European weapon manufacturers.
According to Planet Labs satellite imagery obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S.-funded news outlet, the Ukrainian strike heavily damaged the Novocherkassk naval ship.
Ukrainian and international media both reported that Germany pledged to help Ukraine develop longer-range missiles in May 2025 — years after the strike in the above footage — but did not specifically confirm that these would be Taurus.
Ukrainian forces struck the Crimean port of Feodosia on Dec. 26, 2023, according to Russian media. The clip that appeared online in June 2025 first circulated (archived) widely (archived) on X at the time, though without the added text about jets armed with Taurus missiles. As is the case with much user-generated footage from war zones, it was unclear who recorded the video. Snopes has also not independently confirmed that the footage showed the strike on Feodosia; however, reputable news media outlets such as Reuters and ABC News Australia both reported that this is what the clip showed. Regardless, the footage existed long before the Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia on June 1, 2025.
European nations have previously upheld "range restrictions" when providing missiles to Ukraine, meaning they provided only shorter-range weapons. However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 26, 2025, that Germany, Britain, France and the U.S. had lifted these restrictions.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said the June 1, 2025, drone attack on Russia took more than 18 months to plan and that the 117 drones successfully hit "34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases." However, the Russian Defense Ministry called the operation a "terrorist attack" and added that "there were no casualties among military and civilian personnel."
DeepL.com and Google provided translations from German and Russian to English.