Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted several strategic facilities across Russia overnight on 14 March, causing a major fire at an oil refinery and reportedly striking gas infrastructure and military targets.
In southern Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, a drone attack on the Tuapse oil refinery ignited a fuel tank, causing a fire that spread to over 1,000 square meters, according to Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev. The facility is owned by Rosneft, a company with close ties to Russian President Putin.
“The Kyiv regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse tonight. One of the gasoline tanks caught fire,” Kondratyev claimed on Telegram, adding that 121 people and 39 pieces of equipment were involved in fighting the blaze, and preliminary data indicated no casualties.
Residents of Tuapse reported hearing “about ten loud explosions” around 3 a.m. in the area of the refinery, according to the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Shot. Head of Tuapse municipal district Sergei Boyko confirmed the fire at the facility.
The Tuapse refinery was a target of several previous drone attacks.
Russian capital targeted
Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that air defense forces had allegedly intercepted four drones heading toward the capital.
“The Defense Ministry’s air defense forces repelled an attack of four drones flying toward Moscow,” Sobyanin stated on Telegram, adding that emergency services were working at the debris fall sites.
The Russian news Telegram channel Astra reported that drone debris was found in Balashikha, a Moscow suburb that hosts a Military Technical University training fortification specialists. Balashikha is the most populous city in Moscow Oblast and the fourth-largest city in Russia.
Moscow Oblast Governor Andrei Vorobyov wrote that preliminary data indicated there were no casualties from the drone interceptions.
Natural gas compressor stations and ammunition depot
According to sources in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) who spoke to UNIAN, Ukrainian long-range drones struck two gas compressor stations in Russia: the Davydovskaya station in Tambov Oblast and the Novopetrovskaya station in Saratov Oblast.
The SBU sources also claimed that Ukrainian drones hit a field depot of missiles for S-300/S-400 air defense systems near the settlement of Radkovka in Belgorod Oblast. The Ukrainian special service stated that active detonation of ammunition began after the strike.
It is not immediately clear, when the operations took place. Russian Telegram channels reported an attack on a Saratov Oblast gas facility on 13 March.
Related:
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- Dnipropetrovsk Oblast railway power facilities targeted by Russian drones, other attacks kill at least four civilians
- Moscow oil refinery and Druzhba pipeline targeted in drone attack, Ukraine’s military says
- Ukraine targets 8.8-million-ton capacity Rosneft refinery in Samara Oblast
- Ukrainian drones hit oil pumping station and refinery in Russia (video)
- Russians lose valuable S-400 radar station in Crimea (video, updated)
- Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery halts operations after Ukrainian drone strike yesterday
- Ukrainian drones hit strategic Russian seaport and oil refinery used for military operations
- Drones attack Russian oil refinery in Tuapse
- Ukraine attacks Russia’s oil facilities at eastern Black Sea coast
- Russia’s Black Sea port oil refinery engulfed in flames after another drone raid
