A Russian oil depot struck overnight across the border, Kyiv’s military said Sunday, in the latest drone attack on facilities carried out across Ukraine to hamper Russia’s ability to wage war.
The General Staff in Kyiv said Sunday morning local time that its forces had attacked the Polyova oil depot in the Kursk region, just across the border from northeastern Ukraine.
The operation was carried out in part through the Ukrainian security service of the SBU, according to the General Staff. The warehouse had already been attacked in mid-February.
Kyiv is targeting oil depots and refineries with long-range drones, cutting Russian oil exports in hopes of cutting off resources Moscow can devote to the war against its western neighbor.
The governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, claimed on Sunday that Ukrainian drones had attacked an oil depot and that “three fuel tanks had caught fire. ” There were no injuries, Smirnov said.
In a later statement, the governor added that air defenses destroyed two drones and the debris that fell from one of them sparked a fire in a space in the south of the town of Medvenka. city of Kursk.
An “explosive device dropped from a Ukrainian helicopter on a residential building” in Sudzha, a Russian settlement near the border with the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine. One local resident was injured, Smirnov said.
Russian Telegram channels report a drone attack on the Polevaya oil depot in Russia’s Kursk region. The governor of the Kursk region wrote that 3 fuel tanks caught fire. Previously, on February 15, 2024, the Polevaya oil depot had already been attacked via drones, two tanks with diesel. . . pic. twitter. com/YzXQQKuIyU
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its air defenses had “intercepted and destroyed” Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region and two drones in Kursk.
Moscow later said in subsequent statements that air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones over Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, and another unmanned vehicle destroyed in Belgorod.
The Kursk depot was accustomed to the efforts of the Russian military, Ukraine said, adding that the facility housed 11 garage tanks with a total volume of 7,000 cubic meters.
“According to the intelligence services, enemy air defense systems were operating in the area where the facility is located,” the Ukrainian military said. “Strong explosions and a fire were recorded in tanks containing petroleum products. “
A second facility, an electrical substation also in the Kursk region, may also have been damaged, the Ukrainian military said.
The Baza Telegram channel, which claims to have ties to Russian security services, said the drone attack took place around 1 a. m. and shared images showing several burning oil tanks. Newsweek was unable to independently determine the clip.
In March, the Financial Times reported that the United States had forced Ukraine to prevent its attacks on Russian oil refineries, fearing a global oil surge and the threat of Russian retaliation.
Olha Stefanishyna, a senior Ukrainian government official, has said in the past that Russian oil refineries were valid military targets.
Ellie Cook is a security and defense reporter for Newsweek based in London, United Kingdom. Her paintings focus largely on the war between Russia and Ukraine, the US military, weapons systems, and emerging technologies. She joined Newsweek in January 2023, after applying as a reporter for the Daily Express and graduating in International Journalism from City, University of London.
Languages: English, Spanish.
Ellie can be reached via email at e. cook@newsweek. com.
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