The Ukrainian army said today that it had carried out overnight drone strikes on oil facilities in western Russia, causing fires, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
In recent months, Kiev has stepped up its air strikes against Russian energy and military facilities - a campaign described as a response to Russian bombing of cities and the energy grid over the past three years.
Ukrainian armed forces and security services have struck the Volgograd oil refinery and the Astrakhan gas processing plant, both located in southwestern Russia, the Ukrainian General Staff announced on the social network "Facebook".
Ukraine's Security Service announced told AFP that the Astrakhan factory was closed and employees were evacuated after a fire.
The regional administrations of Volgograd and Astrakhan confirmed that the attacks had caused fires at energy infrastructure facilities.
Local media also reported a fire at a large gas processing plant owned by Russian gas giant “Gazprom“ in Astrakhan.
According to estimates by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Volgograd refinery processes "almost 6% of Russian oil".
Kiev claims this is the fifth successful operation targeting Russian oil infrastructure since the beginning of the year, AFP notes.
A total of 70 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed overnight over six Russian regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
At the same time, Russia attacked Ukraine with 71 drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said.