Members of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry work to extinguish the fire in an oil storage tank following an alleged drone attack in the city of Azov in the southern Rostov region, Russia, on June 18, 2024, in this still image from a video. | Photo credit: VIA REUTERS
Ukraine on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a nighttime drone strike on a Russian oil facility that caused a massive fire in the latest long-range attack by Kyiv’s armed forces on a border area.
Ukraine has stepped up airstrikes on Russian territory in recent months, targeting refineries and oil terminals in an effort to slow the Kremlin’s war machine. Moscow’s military is pressing hard along the front line in eastern Ukraine, where a shortage of troops and ammunition in the third year of the war has left defenders vulnerable.
According to Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev, the attack caused a fire at an oil reservoir in Russia’s Rostov region and more than 200 firefighters were on the scene.
The fire covered an area of ​​5,000 square meters, but there were no casualties, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.
A Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give the information to the media, said the attack was a special operation by the Ukrainian security service, known as SBU. The drones targeted two oil depots in Rostov with 22 oil reservoirs, the official said.
It was not possible to independently confirm the claim.
Officials in Kiev normally decline to comment on attacks on Russian territory, although they sometimes refer to them obliquely.
Ukrainian drone developers have been expanding the weapons’ range for months as Kiev tries to compensate for the battlefield disadvantage. The unmanned aerial vehicles are also an affordable option as Ukraine awaits the arrival of more Western military aid.
