Oil refineries reportedly burning in multiple Russian regions following Ukrainian strike
Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Ukrainian drones reportedly struck Russian oil infrastructure in various regions overnight on June 28, as worries continue to mount in Russia over the country’s fuel and oil reserves.
Ukraine’s military reportedly carried out a drone attack against the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Russian city of Slavyansk-on-Kubani overnight on June 28, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
Photos and videos posted to social media purport to show large flames and plumes of smoke emanating from what appears to be storage tanks at the oil refinery, located in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region.
The facility is considered a key fuel supplier for Russian-occupied Crimean — who’s fuel reserves have effectively been paralyzed in recent weeks as Ukraine attempt to isolate the peninsula.
The regional operational headquarters later reported that the fire at the oil refinery occurred due to falling debris.
The extent of the damage caused was not immediately clear.
Elsewhere in Russia, smoke was seen rising from the area of the Yaroslavl oil refinery, located approximately 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
Yaroslavl Oblast Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said on Telegram that Ukrainian drones were targeting the region.
The Kyiv Independent cannot immediately verify the reports. Ukraine’s military has not yet commented on the reported attack.
Amid the strikes, Russia has been facing a growing fuel shortage exacerbated by Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries. Over 20 Russian regions have imposed restrictions on fuel sales. Many Russians have taken to social media to report hours-long wait times to refuel at service stations.
The reported attack comes as Kyiv continues to escalate its campaign against Russian oil and gas infrastructure, a key source of Moscow’s revenues helping to fuel its all-out invasion of Ukraine.
The latest strike comes days after Ukrainian drones struck two oil refineries in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan on June 25.
A June 19 strike on the Moscow Oil Refinery halted operations at the facility — one of the largest in Russia, responsible for 40% of the Moscow fuel market and the majority of the region’s gasoline. Days later, the Lukoil-Nizhegorodorgsintez refinery in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia’s fourth-largest refinery, went offline following a Ukrainian drone strike, Reuters reported.