Drones target Russian oil refineries in a new strike deep behind front lines
16 March 2024 08:22
The campaign against the Russian oil industry continues. Early Saturday morning, kamikaze drones targeted two refineries in the Samara region, approximately 1,000 kilometres from the front line, sparking fires.
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Early on Saturday, at around 4 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, kamikaze drones attacked two refineries in the Samara region of Russia simultaneously.
"The first drone struck the oil refinery in Syzran, causing a fire. The blaze currently spans an area of roughly 500 square metres. Emergency services are on scene tackling the fire. Concurrently, several other drones targeted the refinery in Novokuibyshevsk, where a fire also broke out but was extinguished within half an hour," - a post by the independent Russian outlet Baza on Telegram stated.
This incident marks another attack on Putin's oil industry in recent weeks. Just the night before, from 14 to 15 March, drones hit a refinery in the Kaluga region, leading to a massive fire. The campaign's impact is becoming apparent in Russia, with gasoline prices increasing and its production estimated to have dropped by seven to eight percent.
Night drone attacks in Russia
Official Russian sources have reported that during the night and early Saturday morning, Ukrainian kamikaze drones were spotted in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
First, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, conveyed that in the village of Glotovo (Grayvoronsky district), an unmanned aerial vehicle struck a passenger car, injuring five occupants.
By morning, the Russian Ministry of Defence acknowledged that the Kursk and Belgorod regions had been subjected to drone and missile attacks. It was reported that the Russian air defence managed to shoot down five drones over the Kursk region and three drones along with two missiles over the Belgorod region.
Source: Baza/TASS/Espreso