The Ukrainian army claimed on Wednesday to have struck during the night an oil site in Russia located 500 kilometers from the border and supplying Russian military aircraft which are bombing Ukraine.
• Also read: Crimea: fuel leak after the sinking of two tankers
• Also read: Russia: Kyiv claims strike on oil site
• Also read: Ukraine says it struck Russian oil site
Russian regional authorities have reported a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones on the towns of Saratov and Engels located some 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow which inflicted “damage” on an “industrial enterprise”, including causing a “fire”.
“The Combinat Kristall oil depot in Engels, in the Saratov region, was attacked” during the night, the Ukrainian army general staff said on Telegram.
This site “supplied fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield, where enemy strategic aviation is based,” he added.
According to media reports, the air base hosts Tupolev strategic bombers that Russia has used to fire cruise missiles at cities and critical infrastructure in Ukraine since the invasion began almost three years ago.
The attack on the depot “creates serious logistical problems for Russian strategic aviation” and “significantly reduces its ability to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian sites,” assured the Ukrainian General Staff.
“Saratov and Engels were targeted by a massive drone attack” which did not cause any casualties, the governor of the region, Roman Boussargine, indicated overnight on Telegram.
“There is damage on an industrial site,” he added. Later, in a separate message, he announced that a crisis unit had been set up to “liquidate” the fire.
Russian Telegram channels indicated that according to residents explosions had been audible in Engels and shared images of a large fire topped by a column of smoke.
Ukraine and Russia have intensified their strikes in recent months and want to do everything to strengthen their positions before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, the US president-elect having said he wants to stop the war as soon as he takes office .
Kyiv claims to target military targets and sites used by the army, in particular oil depots.
Ukrainian police also said on Wednesday that two people were killed and five others injured following Russian artillery and drone bombardments against the southern region of Kherson.
In total, Russia launched 64 combat drones against Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said, claiming to have shot down 41 of them.
Twenty-two other decoy drones disappeared from radar without causing damage, the Air Force said.
