2:54 am ET, May 4, 2023
Russian official says oil plant catches fire after third Ukrainian drone strike in 2 days
From CNN’s Olga Vojtovich
According to the regional governor, a fire broke out at a petroleum plant in Russia’s southwestern region after a drone strike on Wednesday night — the third apparent Ukrainian strike on a Russian fuel depot in two days.
The drone crashed into the construction site of an overpass at the Novoshaktinsk plant near the village of Kiselevka, Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said in a telegram on Thursday.
The workers at the plant immediately extinguished the fire.
No casualties or injuries were reported and the strike caused little damage to facilities, Golubev said.
It is not known who is responsible for this attack.
Oil target: According to Russian state media and officials, this is Ukraine’s third attack against fuel depots inside Russian territory in the past two days.
The fire at the Ilski oil refinery in the southwestern Krasnodar region was caused by an “unidentified drone attack,” the state-run news agency said earlier Thursday. According to Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratiev, there were no casualties.
On Wednesday, Russian state media published a report The drone strike ignited the fire It sank an oil storage facility in the port of Volna in Krasnodar.
That facility is nearby Kerch Bridge It was set on fire by Ukrainian forces in October 2022. It is unclear how the fuel storage tank caught fire.
Ukraine has not commented on these incidents.
Cross-border attacks by Russia and Ukraine in recent weeks appear to be attempts to weaken each other ahead of a long-awaited spring offensive.
