Ukraine Says It Hit 2 Russian Oil Refineries Overnight
Ukraine struck two of Russia’s oil refineries overnight, the latest in a flurry of attacks that show a resumption of the assault on the nation’s fuel-production industry.
Ukrainian forces hit the Yaroslavl refinery, one of Russia’s largest facilities located some 700 kilometers (435 miles) from its border, which is also known as Yanos, President Volodymyr Zelenkskyy said in a Telegram statement on Thursday. Bashneft’s Novoil facility in Bashkortostan, about 1,300 kilometers from the front line, was also attacked, he said.
The strike on Yanos hit four reservoir tanks containing crude oil, leading to a spill, set two reservoirs on fire and damaged two primary crude-processing units, Ukraine’s Security Service, known as SBU, said later on Thursday in a separate Telegram statement.
Earlier, Yaroslavl region governor Mikhail Yevrayev said that tanks at the oil refinery were damaged as a result of the fallen debris after the region repelled its largest-ever drone attack, with 93 unmanned aerial vehicles destroyed overnight. “The emergency services are working to extinguish the fire,” Yevrayev said on Telegram.
Images of the Yanos refinery taken by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System show fresh heat anomalies on Aug. 6
There were no public comments from the head of the Bashkortostan republic.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russia’s downstream industry after a short lull in the second half of July, which had allowed refineries to make repairs and increase fuel supplies across the country. In recent days, there were at least nine attacks on eight of Russia’s crude-processing plants, once again putting domestic supplies of gasoline and diesel at risk and threatening higher prices.
At the same time, Russia has been attacking regions across Ukraine, including nation’s Black Sea ports and vessels calling there.
The Yaroslavl refinery, which has a design capacity of about 300,000 barrels a day, has been a target of multiple Ukrainian drone strikes, most recently in mid-July. The Novoil refinery can process about 150,000 barrels a day and was also attacked last weekend.
Overnight, Russia shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over its regions, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, with number of repelled unmanned aerial vehicles near a record-high, according to nation’s Defense Ministry.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.