Yet another Russian oil refinery was reportedly depicted engulfed by flames following a drone attack blamed on Ukraine.
An account on the messaging app Telegram, NEWS.GRP, shared pictures from Russian news outlet V1 reportedly showing a massive fire that erupted on the night between February 2 and 3 at a key oil plant in the southwestern region of Volgograd.
The regional governor, Andrey Bocharov, claimed the blaze had been the result of a drone that, after being downed by Russia’s air defence, hit the refinery.
A statement by Mr Bocharov shared on Telegram read: “Last night, the air defence forces and electronic warfare repelled an attack by drones on the territory part of the Volgograd region.”
The statement added: “As a result of the fall of a downed unmanned aerial vehicle, a fire broke out at the Volgograd oil refinery.”
The governor went on to claim that emergency services were quick to locate the massive fire and quash it, and added there were no casualties as a result of the incident.
The work of several firefighters trying to control the fire was depicted in pictures by V1.
This refinery is operated by industry giant Lukoil, the largest producer of petroleum products in the southern federal district of Russia, and is located some 372 miles away from the Ukrainian border.
The Russian Army also mentioned the alleged drone attack, claiming its air defence had managed to shoot down overnight several unmanned vehicles through electronic jamming – four in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, two in Volgograd and one in the Rostov-on-Don area.
UNITED24Media, the Telegram channel created by the Ukrainian Government, reported claims by residents alleging two explosions were heard in the area.
Ukraine hasn’t commented on whether it was behind the drone attack. The war-torn country rarely releases statements on attacks carried out beyond its borders.
The fire at the Lukoil plant came just days after, on January 29, another drone reportedly struck the Slavneft-Yanos oil plant in the Yaroslavl region.
On January 25, drones of the Security Service of Ukraine reportedly attacked an oil refinery in the Russian city of Tuapse, in the Krasnodar area near the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
Among the attacks on oil refineries reportedly carried out last year by Ukraine was one that hit another Lukoil plant, this time in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
