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Ukrainian drones have reportedly attacked a vital oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd region for the second time in less than three months, according to Kiev’s General Staff.
Ukraine claims the attack on Wednesday targeted Russia’s largest producer of fuels and lubricants in the Southern Federal District.
Ukrainian officials estimate that the refinery processes more than 15 million tons of crude oil annually, about 5.6 percent of the country’s total refining capacity.
While Russian officials have not confirmed the drone strike, the local governor has acknowledged a fire at an unspecified industrial facility in the area.
The incident comes amid a sustained campaign of mutual attacks on energy infrastructure by both Russia and Ukraine.
The attacks continue despite ongoing US-led diplomatic efforts, which have so far had no significant impact on the nearly four-year-old conflict.
Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks on Russian refineries aim to deprive moscow It needs oil export revenues to pursue its full-scale offensive.
Russia wants to paralyze the Ukrainian power grid and deprive citizens of access to heat, light and running water Kyiv Officials say it is an attempt to “weaponize winter”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said foreign countries were helping Kiev in efforts to keep the power grid running amid the Russian attack.
He said, “Practically every day, our power engineers, repair brigades and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are carrying out repair work on site after the attacks: attacks continue to occur at various points, especially in our communities, and especially near the Russian border and close to the front.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine has attempted to attack targets on Russian soil with domestically developed long-range drones.
Ukrainian forces also attacked three fuel lubricant facilities in the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula and a storage and assembly base for Russia’s Martyr drones in the occupied eastern part of Ukraine. Donetsk Area, the statement from the General Staff said.
Governor Sergei Sitnikov said that in the Kostroma region, northeast of Moscow, a Ukrainian airstrike hit unidentified “energy infrastructure”. He said there were no casualties and power supply was not disrupted.
Unconfirmed media reports said the attack targeted a hydroelectric power plant in the Kostroma region, one of Russia’s largest.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday its air defense forces shot down 75 drones overnight over several Russian regions and occupied Crimea.
Meanwhile, Russia carried out a drone attack on the town of Kamianske in Ukraine’s eastern Dnepropetrovsk region overnight, wounding eight people, the head of the regional military administration, Vladislav Khavanenko, said on his official Telegram channel.
Multiple fires broke out and the roof of the four-storey building was partially destroyed, he said.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzlizhnytsia said Russian forces also continued their attack on Ukraine’s rail infrastructure, causing delays and diversions in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk and the southern Zaporizhia region.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia attacked Ukraine with 135 drones of various types overnight Thursday.