Fire at Russian refinery after Ukrainian drone attack – DW – 07/22/2024

A drone strike by Ukraine overnight caused a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and killed one person, Russian and Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

Kiev and Moscow have stepped up their mutual cross-border attacks with both missiles and drones in recent months, mainly targeting energy infrastructure.

Russian regional authorities in the city of Tuapse in the Black Sea and Krasnodar regions (southern) reported that falling debris from the drone caused a fire at a refinery, forcing the deployment of 100 firefighters.

On the spot, the governor of Belgorod, another region in southern Russia, said a man driving a tractor was shot dead by a Ukrainian drone and his wife was injured.

A source in the Ukrainian defence sector claimed drones linked to military intelligence services were used and that the damaged refinery is operated by Russian state giant Rosneft.

“The extent of the damage caused to the military-industrial complex of the aggressor state is being verified,” the source indicated in writing.

Russia shot down 75 Ukrainian drones

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 75 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight, 47 of them in the southern Rostov region; another in Belgorod, two more in Voronezh and Smolensk and eight in the Krasnodar sky.

According to the ministry, another 17 drones were shot down while flying over the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov. Russia announces almost daily that it has shot down Ukrainian drones over its territory.

ee (EFE, AFP)