Ukraine launched attack drones at oil facilities in western Russia early on Wednesday, defense sources in Kyiv confirmed, in the latest air attack on Kyiv aimed at disrupting Russian military logistics.
Ukraine has stepped up air attacks on Russian energy facilities in recent weeks in hopes of denying Moscow the ability to attack Ukrainian cities or gain more ground in the industrial east.
The attacks were first reported by authorities in the Smolensk and Lipetsk regions in western Russia.
“Our region has again been attacked by Ukrainian drones,” Vasily Anokhin, governor of the Smolensk region, wrote on social networks.
“The fires occurred after enemy attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.”
According to him, no one was injured.
Another drone attack targeted the southern Lipetsk region, where metallurgical and pharmaceutical plants are located, Governor Igor Artamonov said.
“The Kiev criminal regime tried to strike the infrastructure of the Lipetsk industrial zone,” he said, without naming the victims and adding that residential areas were not attacked.
A source in the Ukrainian defense sector confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that the attacks were carried out by drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The source did not mention the attack on Lipetsk, but said that two oil depots were destroyed in the Smolensk region.
"Rosneft has lost two storage and pumping bases for fuels and lubricants in the cities of Yartsevo and Rozdorov," the source said, referring to the Russian state-owned energy giant.
The source added that drones attacked facilities storing 26,000 cubic meters of fuel and said Ukraine would continue to carry out such bombings.
“These objects are and will remain absolutely legitimate targets,” the source said.
Russia is carrying out systematic attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing serious damage to critical facilities.
But Ukraine has also announced a series of attacks in recent months on Russian oil refineries and storage facilities, not only in border regions such as Smolensk, but also in areas hundreds of kilometers from the border.