An astonishing video shows massive flames erupting from the latest Russian oil refinery to fall victim to a suspected Ukrainian drone attack.
The governor of the Samara region in Western Russia accused Ukraine on March 16 of having launched an attack against two oil refineries in the area, both belonging to state-owned oil giant Rosneft.
The local Governor, Dmitry Azarov, claimed the assault on the Novokubyshev refinery was thwarted – despite Russian Telegram channel Baza claiming a fire did occur there but was extinguished in around half an hour.
On the other hand, he conceded the drone attack on the Syzran refinery was successful – as shown by videos shared on social media depicting a huge blaze at the plant.
Reports on Russian media circulating online claimed the flames affected an area of approximately 5,381 square feet before being quashed.
One unverified brief clip, published among others by the UNITED24 Media Telegram channel controlled by the Ukrainian government, shows who appears to be a firefighter walking towards the massive blaze, while the sky is engulfed by thick smoke.
The account captioned the video without placing responsibility for the attacks on Ukraine, but instead said: “Unknown drones again attacked the refinery in the Samara region of the Russian Federation.”
Since the beginning of the unlawful invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has rarely claimed responsibility for attacks beyond its internationally recognised borders.
This double overnight attack on oil refineries is the latest of a series of assaults recorded on Russian oil infrastructure located in European Russia since the beginning of the year.
These attacks, carried out with relatively cheap unmanned aerial vehicles, can have dire consequences if they manage to compromise the oil refining capacity of Russia.
One of the most seriously hit oil refineries has been the one in the Ryazan region, more than 310 miles deep into the Russian territory.
This is one of Russia’s biggest crude-processing facilities and is located some 124 miles southeast of Moscow.
It has a capacity of 17.1 million tonnes a year, or around 340,000 barrels a day, and is a major supplier of motor fuels for regions around the capital of Russia.
These attacks are just one way in which the invasion of Ukraine is having a ripple effect on the Russian population.
The region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, has been experiencing shelling for months – and has been experiencing incursions by anti-Putin armed units since March 13.
