Ukrainian drone attack on oil depot inside Russia causes massive blaze, officials say
A Ukrainian drone struck an oil storage depot in western Russia on Friday, causing a massive blaze, officials said, as Kyiv’s forces apparently extended their attacks on Russian soil ahead of the war’s two-year anniversary.
Four oil reservoirs with a total capacity of 1.6 million gallons were set on fire after the drone reached Klintsy, a city of some 70,000 people about 40 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to the local governor and state news agency Tass.
The strike apparently was the latest in a recently intensified effort by Ukraine to unnerve Russians and undermine President Vladimir Putin’s claims that life in Russia is going on as normal before its March 17 presidential election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to hit more targets inside Russian border regions this year. Russia’s air defenses are concentrated in occupied regions of Ukraine, Kyiv officials say, leaving more distant targets inside Russia more vulnerable as Ukrainian forces develop longer-range drones.
The Russian city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, canceled its traditional Orthodox Epiphany festivities Friday because of the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes. It was the first time major public events were known to have been called off in Russia because of the drone threat.
Ukrainian national media, quoting an official in Ukraine’s Intelligence Service, said Ukrainian drones Friday also attacked a gunpowder mill in Tambov, about 370 miles south of Moscow.
NATO next week will launch its biggest war games in decades, with about 90,000 personnel set to take part in months-long military exercises.
But Tambov Gov. Maxim Yegorov said the plant was working normally, according to Russia’s RBC news outlet. The Mash news outlet had earlier reported that a Ukrainian drone fell on the plant’s premises Thursday but caused no damage.
In another strike fitting the pattern, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Ukrainian drone was downed on the outskirts of St. Petersburg on Thursday.
The drone wreckage fell on the premises of the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal on the city’s southern edge, according to Vladimir Rogov, who is in charge of coordinating the Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine. Mikhail Skigin, the terminal co-owner, confirmed that the drone had targeted the terminal.
St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, is about 560 miles north of the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is headlining a busy first full day of the World Economic Forum’s meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
In Klintsy, air defenses electronically jammed the drone, but it dropped its explosive payload on the facility, Bryansk regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said. There were no casualties, he added.
Russian Telegram channels shared videos of what they said was the blaze at the depot, which sent thick black plumes of smoke into the air.
The fire is hard to put out and requires specialist equipment, Bogomaz said, adding that 32 people were evacuated from their homes near the depot.
The same depot was struck by a Ukrainian drone in May last year, but the damage apparently was less significant.
Meanwhile, Russian shelling in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed a 57-year-old woman, and a landmine there killed a man, the Ukrainian president’s office reported Friday.
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