KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has intensified its drone assaults on Russia, reportedly igniting a significant oil refinery in the south and resulting in at least two fatalities, according to Russian officials on Sunday.
In recent months, Ukraine has notably increased its long-range attacks on Russia’s military and energy infrastructure. The intention seems clear: to diminish Moscow’s financial resources that fuel the ongoing invasion, which has now entered its fifth year, and to make the repercussions felt by the Russian populace.
This operation has disrupted fuel supplies and military transport for Russia. Western analysts assert that this has impeded Moscow’s operations on the battlefield while applying more pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate.
“Tonight, we’ve expanded our ‘long-term sanctions’ to include two Russian oil refineries,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared on the messaging platform Telegram. “Each strike signifies a reduction in the means sustaining Russia’s warfare and a step closer to peace.”
According to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, fragments from a downed Ukrainian drone ignited a blaze at a refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kubani, located in Russia’s Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea. Local authorities reported that falling debris resulted in one fatality in Slavyansk and injured another individual in a nearby village.
The Slavyansk refinery is a significant facility in southern Russia, processing nearly 4 million tons of crude oil annually, based on the operator’s website. It is also a vital source of petroleum products such as fuel oil, naphtha, and marine fuel, which are exported via Russia’s Black Sea ports.
Images and videos circulating on Russian social media depicted thick smoke rising from what users claimed was the Slavyansk facility, although the Associated Press could not immediately verify them.
President Zelenskiy additionally asserted that a second Russian oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region, approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles) from Ukraine’s border, sustained damage in a nighttime strike.
There were no prompt updates from Russian officials regarding the Ukrainian attack on the Yaroslavl refinery. Local governor Mikhail Evlaev reported Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and Yaroslavl’s capital were temporarily closed due to “enemy drone attacks from Ukraine.”
Yaroslavl’s airport, along with others in southern and western Russia, was closed overnight, according to the country’s Civil Aviation Authority.
In other developments, Ukrainian drone strikes in the border region of Belgorod resulted in one death and another injury, as reported by acting governor Alexander Shubayev on Sunday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that the military shot down 213 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian territories, occupied Crimea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov.
Simultaneously, Russia launched an attack on Ukraine overnight with 142 long-range drones and eight missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. They reported successfully intercepting 125 drones and seven missiles.
