Two oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region were hit in Ukrainian drone strikes, the local governor has said, in the latest strike against the country’s infrastructure facilities, which have caused a spike in energy prices.
Drones have attacked energy facilities well inside Russian territory in recent months, and the latest incidents on Saturday occurred a long way from Ukraine, more than 500 miles southeast of Moscow.
Over the course of the war, Russian authorities have blamed Ukraine for the strikes, which are increasing in frequency and are impacting Moscow’s war effort. However, Kyiv often does not claim immediate responsibility. Russia in turn uses drones and missiles to strike civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Newsweek has emailed the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment.
Screen grab via social media
Samara Governor Dmitry Azarov said Saturday that Ukrainian drones had struck facilities belonging to state-owned energy giant Rosneft, which left one site on fire.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from either incident, but unverified footage shared by Telegram users showed a blaze at what appeared to be the Syzran refinery. The Baza Telegram channel said that the fire engulfed 5,380 square feet following the attack at 6 a.m. local time in the Volga River region.
At the same time, several other drones attacked the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, about 120 miles further east, where a fire also broke out that was extinguished half an hour later, the Baza channel said.
Two days earlier, Ukrainian intelligence directorate GUR had reportedly conducted a drone strike against the Perviy Zavod oil refinery near the city of Kaluga, which is used by the Russian military.
Russian Telegram channels report drone attacks on two enterprises at once in Samara region.
Local residents say about explosions at the Syzran refinery. The area of fire is 500 square meters.
Other drones attacked the Novokuybyshevsk refinery, according to Russian media. pic.twitter.com/2uB0ILz26v
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 16, 2024
Also this week, the Rosneft oil refinery in Ryazan, one of the country’s largest crude-processing facilities, was hit in a drone strike as were facilities in the Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad, Oryol and Rostov regions.
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) source told Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pradva that the spate of strikes was part of “a continuation of a series of special operations against Russian oil refineries.”
These incidents have caused significant disruption, with facilities hit in the past few days accounting for 12 percent of Russia’s oil-processing capacity, according to Bloomberg.
Russian business news outlet RBC reported that, because the strikes have forced refineries to suspend operation, there has been a rise in gasoline prices due to concerns about the balance of supply and demand.
The price of AI-95 gasoline on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange exceeded 60,000 rubles ($657) per ton on Wednesday, a rise of 1.88 percent, which was the highest for five months.
The drone strikes come as Russians go to the polls to vote in a tightly controlled presidential election, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win comfortably.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.