Satellite image shows smoke and fire coming out of an oil depot in Astakhov, Kamensky district, Rostov region, Russia, amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, August 28, 2024. 2024 Planet Labs Inc./Handout via Reuters
Ukrainian drones attack two fuel depots in RussiaKiev’s repeated attacks against Russian oil and gas facilities are the latest since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday (August 28, 2024).
Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev wrote on Telegram that a drone attack “caused a fire at a fuel depot” in the Rostov region of southwestern Russia.
“Firefighters are still trying to extinguish the fire, but the fire poses no threat to any residential houses and no one was injured,” Mr Golubev wrote.
A source in the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence Service confirmed the attack. AFPHe said the facility was “directly involved in supplying the Russian occupation forces”.
A major fire has been raging for 10 days at another oil storage facility in the city of Proletarsk in the Rostov region, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Ukrainian border, after a separate drone attack.
“Ukrainian drones also attacked an oil depot in the Russian town of Kotelnich in the northern Kirov region,” the region’s governor, Alexander Sokolov, said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday (August 28, 2024).
The drone attack was reportedly the first in the region, some 1,100 kilometres (685 miles) from the Ukrainian border, since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
“Two drones were shot down, while three fell into the plant premises and began to burn,” Mr Sokolov said. He added that the fires were “immediately extinguished” and there were no damages or injuries.
Since the conflict began, Kiev has repeatedly targeted Russian oil and gas facilities in what it describes as justified retaliation for Moscow’s attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his military for attacking oil facilities in Russia, saying the strikes would help bring a “just end” to the conflict.