A fire broke out at the Slavneft-Yaroslavnefteorgsintez oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl following a Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of Yaroslavl Region, Mikhail Yevrayev, said. According to him, parts of the facility’s infrastructure were damaged, and two employees were injured.
“Damage has been inflicted on the refinery’s infrastructure. Emergency services are working to extinguish the fire,” Yevrayev said.
The governor said that air defense forces had repelled an attack involving 124 drones. It was not specified how many of them reached the area of the refinery or exactly how the damage was caused.
The refinery is one of Russia’s largest
Slavneft-Yaroslavnefteorgsintez, also known as YANOS, is located about 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow. The facility has an annual production capacity of approximately 15 million tonnes of crude oil and produces gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel oil.
The refinery had been attacked by Ukraine at least twice before the latest strike. Production was interrupted during previous attacks.
Russia has not reported the final extent of the damage, nor whether operations at individual production facilities have been halted. Emergency services continued their efforts to extinguish the fire.
Moscow reports 856 drones shot down
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces had shot down 856 drones over various regions of the country overnight. The claim has not been independently verified.
Footage published on social media shows high flames in the darkened sky. Its authenticity has not been verified. The videos appear to show two smaller fires in the area of the refinery.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack. Kyiv has repeatedly struck Russian oil-processing facilities, saying that the aim is to restrict the resources available to finance the war. Russia, for its part, attacks Ukrainian energy infrastructure with missiles and drones.
Sources: bta.bg, new.streetinsider.com