Kyiv: Ukrainian forces struck oil facilities in Russia and occupied Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian officials said Monday, as part of their campaign aimed at making Moscow pay an economic cost for the war.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces shot down 310 Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday, including over the Moscow region, western and southwestern Russia, Russian-occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov Seas.
Russia targeted Ukraine with 155 drones, of which Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 124, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian forces had struck Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region overnight. The General Staff said the Grushovaya oil transhipment base near Novorossiysk. The complex is one of the largest transhipment hubs in southern Russia for oil and petroleum products.
Russian regional authorities confirmed a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at the facility, adding that there were no casualties. While they did not comment on the extent of damage, they said 130 rescue workers and 39 pieces of equipment were involved in putting out the blaze.
The Krasny Yar linear production and dispatching station in the Volgograd region was also hit, the General Staff said. A fire broke out at the site, according to the statement. Russian Gov. Andrei Bocharov didn’t specify what the facility produces, but said there were no injuries.
Ukraine also carried out strikes overnight in the Semykolodezkaya oil base in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on Sunday night, sparking a fire at the facility.
The base is used to store fuel reserves supplying the Russian military, according to the statement posted on Telegram.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil depot near Feodosia in Crimea, the General Staff said.
Separately, a Ukrainian drone overnight struck a passenger train from Moscow to Simferopol in occupied Crimea, injuring the driver and killing the driver’s assistant, Kremlin-installed regional leader Sergei Aksyonov reported early Monday.
Aksyonov added that no passengers were hurt.
But all passenger train traffic in Crimea was halted following the attack, with passengers evacuated and replacement buses provided, Russian operator Grand Service Express reported on Telegram that same morning.