A fire broke out on Saturday March 23 in an oil refinery in the Russian region of Samara (Volga), attacked by a drone, said the governor of the Samara region, Dmitri Azarov.

Furthermore, in Belgorod, a civilian was killed on Saturday and two others were injured in a drone attack in this region bordering Ukraine, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“This night, several drone attacks against regional oil refineries were committed,” said Dmitri Azarov, in a statement from the regional government published on Telegram.

One of these attacks caused "a fire in the Kuïbyshevsky oil refinery", he said, stressing that no casualties were to be deplored.

The refinery managed by Russian oil giant Rosneft is one of the largest in the Samara region, with a production capacity of 7 million tonnes of oil per year, according to information available on its official website.

Increase in attacks against energy sites

A drone attack on another oil refinery, that of Novokuybyshevsky, also located in the Samara region, "was repelled without harming the technological equipment", according to Mr. Azarov.

“We see that the enemy who suffers defeats on the battlefield is doing everything possible to shake our endurance and our unity,” he said.

Ukraine, faced with the Russian offensive for two years, has increased its attacks against Russia in recent weeks, particularly targeting energy sites.

kyiv had promised to bring the fighting to Russian soil in retaliation for the numerous bombings on its territory.

Drone attacks in the Belgorod region

According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod was also targeted on Saturday morning by strikes which damaged several residential buildings. 

“The morning was going to be difficult,” the regional governor wrote on Telegram, indicating that two districts in his region were attacked by drones. “A civilian was killed, two others were injured” in one of these attacks in the Chernianski district, he said.

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The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed to have destroyed eleven rockets fired by Vampire rocket launchers coming from Ukraine over the Belgorod region.

The ministry says it neutralized during the night from Friday to Saturday "12 Ukrainian drones" above the regions of Bryansk (5), Belgorod (5), Voronezh (1), all three bordering Ukraine, as well as 'above that of Saratov (1).

With AFP

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