A Ukrainian drone hit caused a fire at an oil refinery in Kirishi, near Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, weeks after the facility was preparing to resume operations following months of repairs following earlier strikes.
The UAV attack deep within Russian territory came as Moscow warned it’s readying “massive strikes” against Ukrainian energy facilities.
Russian air defenses destroyed 62 drones over the Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said Sunday on Telegram. He said one of the downed drones fell near the refinery in Kirishi, sparking a blaze, according to the Ria Novosti news service.
The fire was extinguished, Drozdenko said later, and no casualties were reported.
The Kirishi refinery, southeast of St. Petersburg, is about 1,000 km north of Kyiv. It had been set to restart earlier this month after being attacked in March and again in May. The 400,000-barrel-a-day plant mainly produces diesel, gasoline and fuel oil, primarily for export.
Russian oil producer Surgutneftegas PJSC owns the refinery.
So far in August, Ukraine has carried out more than 20 attacks on Russian refineries, a monthly record for strikes since the start of Kremlin’s war in February 2022. Russia announced on Saturday it was extending a ban on diesel exports in order to keep the domestic market supplied amid the intensified Ukrainian attacks.
The bombing campaign has also sparked a new wave of gasoline shortages across Russian regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had begun preparations for “massive strikes” against Ukrainian energy facilities in response to recent attacks by Kyiv’s forces against civilian and energy infrastructure, according to a statement on Telegram.
Russian forces aggressively targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities ahead of winter in previous years. Last year’s attacks condemned millions of people to prolonged periods of freezing cold and darkness.
Separately, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that 13 drones were destroyed en route to the capital. The Russian Defense Ministry said 494 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.
Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at Ukraine, as well as 130 UAVs including Shahed drones and Banderol small missiles, of which Ukrainian air defenses shot down 125, the General Staff in Kyiv said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that recovery efforts continue in the village of Myla, west of Kyiv, after a Russian strike on Friday night detonated a warehouse that had been storing explosives. The death toll from the ensuing explosions and fires was raised to 38. Twenty others were injured and four are missing.
“Pyrotechnic units are working around the clock on-site, detecting and neutralizing explosive devices. The scale of the area’s contamination is significant, and this work will continue for as long as necessary,” Zelenskyy said.
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