Ukraine has struck energy sites in western Russia using drones, a source in the Ukrainian defense sector told AFP, confirming Russian information and saying it was were “absolutely legitimate targets”.
These new attacks took place against a backdrop of tensions with Washington which, according to media reports, criticized kyiv’s attacks against energy installations located on Russian soil and asked it to put an end to them.
Ukraine, which has been fighting the Russian invasion for more than two years, has in recent weeks intensified its strikes on Russian military and energy sites at a time when its army is in difficulty on the front due in particular to delays in granting of Western military aid, particularly American.
Fuel for the Russian army
Ukrainian drones hit “two oil depots” in the Smolensk region, some 400 kilometers from the border, during this operation organized by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), the source told AFP.
The Russian energy giant Rosneft “lost two fuel and lubricant storage and pumping bases in Iartsevo and Razdorovo” in which “26,000 cubic meters of fuel” were contained, assured this Ukrainian source.
“The SBU continues to effectively destroy military and logistical infrastructure that supplies fuel to the Russian army in Ukraine. These facilities are and will remain our absolutely legitimate targets,” she said.
The first information on these strikes was given by the Russian authorities.
“Our region is once again targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks,” Smolensk region governor Vasily Anokhine wrote on Telegram.
“Most likely as a result of the enemy attack on civilian sites of energy infrastructure, fires broke out,” he added, saying that the attack did not cause any casualties.
He later clarified that firefighters were battling fires in the Smolensk and Yartsevo districts, which coincides with the areas mentioned by the Ukrainians.
Industrial Zone
Another drone attack targeted the special economic zone of the city of Lipetsk on Wednesday, also located some 400 km from the Ukrainian border but further south, which is home in particular to metallurgical and pharmaceutical companies, the governor of Lipetsk said on Telegram. this region, Igor Artamonov.
“The criminal regime in kyiv tried to strike infrastructure in the Lipetsk industrial zone,” Artamonov said. He reported no casualties and said the residential areas had not been threatened.
The Ukrainian source did not comment on the Lipetsk attack.
Since the start of its invasion, Russia has systematically struck civilian sites in Ukraine, starting with its energy infrastructure.
During a recent campaign of strikes, 12 of Ukraine’s 15 thermal power plants were damaged or destroyed, forcing authorities to impose consumption restrictions and import electricity from the European Union.