Ukrainian drone strike sets Russian oil, gas plants ablaze, officials say

A Russian oil refinery and gas processing plant went up in flames after Ukraine fired dozens of drones over the border Sunday night, officials say.Shocking video from Russia’s Astrakhan region shows a large fire engulfing the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant, spewing embers and black clouds into the hazy night sky.A similar fire was reported 300 miles from the frontlines in the Volgograd region, where a fire broke out at a Lukoil oil refinery following the Ukrainian drone barrage.

Ukrainian officials confirmed the attack hours later, stating that the gas plant hit belonged to Russian gas giant Gazprom, and is capable of processing around 8,340 metric tons of gas condensate a day.The oil plant hit overnight was one of Russia’s ten largest refining facilities that processes close to 6% of the nation’s oil, Kyiv claimed.The drone strikes were the fifth successful operation hitting deep within Russia so far this year — as Kyiv looks to disrupt Moscow’s war machine, a Ukrainian security service official told the Associated Press.

The Russian military said it was able to intercept 70 Ukrainian drones targeting six regions overnight, with 27 reported over Rostov, 25 in Volgograd and 7 in Astrakhan.Volgograd Gov.Andrei Bocharov claimed debris from one of the downed drones sparked the fire at the oil refinery.

“The air defense forces of the defense ministry repelled a massive attack by aircraft-type drones on the territory of the Volgograd region,” Bocharov said in a statement.Astrakhan Gov. Igor Babushkin said the gas plant had suspended operations before the drone attack, with first responders rushing to the scene to put out the flames.“Ukrainian armed forces attempted a drone attack on objects located in the region, including fuel and energy facilities,” Babushkin said on Telegram.

“There were no casualties.”The Kremlin acknowledged that fires had broken out at the energy facilities on Monday, but stopped short of crediting them to the drone s...