Drones and artillery killed civilians on both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian border on Saturday, local officials officially announced, and Russian refineries were burning again, according to Russian Telegram channels and Ukrainian media.
Jegor Kovalčukthe governor of the Russian border region of Bryansk, said that Ukrainian drones killed two people in a car in a village not far from the border of the two countries. In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 124 Ukrainian drones were shot down in Russian skies on Saturday.
Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin announced that Russian forces had intercepted and disabled 24 Ukrainian drones that were moving in the direction of Moscow.
Oleksandr Ganjathe governor of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, said that the Russians carried out artillery attacks and about forty drones that were the reason for one person being killed near the city of Nikopol.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Russian forces launched an attack on Kyiv with ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s air defense system was activated, but explosions echoed through the Ukrainian capital. So far, there is no information about possible victims or material damage.
Attack on the refinery in the Krasnodar Territory
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, Ukrainian drones again targeted Russian oil infrastructure in several regions. The most powerful attack, it seems, was the one in the Russian city of Slavyansk in Kubana, as reported by Russian Telegram channels, and Kyiv Independent.
Photos and videos on social media showed a large fire and plumes of smoke that appeared to be rising from a storage tank at a refinery in that city in the Krasnodar region after the drone strike.
According to the Russian portal Astra, an analysis of videos published on the Internet confirmed that the fire broke out in the premises of the Slavyansk oil refinery.
The regional operational headquarters reported that the fire in the oil refinery was caused by aircraft debris falling on the complex. “In Slavjansk, Kuban, debris from an unmanned aerial vehicle caused a fire in an oil refinery. The debris also damaged a power line and broke the windows of a house,” reports Ukrainian justice.
Slavjansk-EKO LLC (Slavjansk oil refinery) is one of the largest Russian oil refineries. The refinery processes crude oil and produces gas condensate, diesel feedstock, fuel oil, low viscosity marine fuel, vacuum gas oil and other petroleum products.
It has an annual processing capacity of about 4-5 million tons of crude oil and accounts for about 9 percent of oil processing in the Southern Federal District of Russia. The refinery is also one of the main exporters of petroleum products in the country through Black Sea ports.
The complex is considered a key supplier of fuel to Russian-occupied Crimea, whose fuel reserves have been paralyzed in recent weeks by ongoing Ukrainian strikes on energy facilities and logistics routes.
An attack in Yaroslavl was also reported
Elsewhere in Russia, smoke billowed from the Yaroslavl oil refinery, located approximately 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
Governor of Yaroslavl Region Mihail Yevrayev reported on Telegram that Ukrainian drones were carrying out attacks in the region, but
The Kyiv Independent points out that they can confirm the reports, while the Ukrainian military has not commented on the alleged attack.
Russia is facing growing fuel shortages due to Ukraine’s heavy hitting campaign against Russian oil refineries. More than 20 Russian regions have imposed restrictions on the sale of fuel, and many Russians have reported hours-long waits at gas stations on social media.
Kiev continues to escalate its campaign against Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure, a key source of revenue for Moscow that helps fuel its all-out invasion of Ukraine.
