Russia battles blaze after Ukraine claims strike on oil terminal

Map of areas controlled by Ukrainian and Russian forces in Ukraine, as of December 12, 1830 GMT —Agence France-Presse/Valentin Rakovsky

MOSCOW, Russia — Russian authorities said Saturday that firefighters were battling a blaze caused by a drone attack in the western Oryol region after Ukraine said it struck a major oil terminal there.

Ukraine has been targeting fuel depots in Russia in retaliation for Moscow’s bombardments that have wreaked massive damage on its power generation network.

The Ukraine military’s General Staff said Saturday morning that Kyiv’s forces had attacked a major oil depot in Stalnoi Kon, about 165 kilometres (100 miles) into Russian territory.

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“It’s one of the largest oil terminals in the suburbs of the city of Oryol” and is part of a “military industrial complex” that supplies the Russian army, the General Staff said.

The governor of Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, said on Telegram that a fire was blazing at “a fuel infrastructure facility” in Stalnoi Kon after a “massive drone attack”.

By Saturday evening the fire was “localised”, the governor said, and its “area is reduced”, with firefighters using foam to battle the flames.

Local residents were advised to keep windows closed and not go out, the governor said.

Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that the attack targeted a facility owned by Transneft-Druzhba, which operates the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key supply route for Russian oil heading to much of central Europe.

Russian media showed images, purportedly of the attack, showing clouds of smoke billowing up into the night sky from a fire.

Governor Klychkov said there were no casualties in the attack, during which air defences had downed 11 drones.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine, a drone attack killed a nine-year-old boy and wounded his mother and baby sister, said the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

He posted photos of the family’s home with a huge hole in the facade and the roof partially torn off.

Ukraine regularly attacks military and energy infrastructure in Russia, sometimes deep into its neighbour’s territory, in response to Russian attacks on its own infrastructure.

Kyiv’s General Staff said Russia had attacked overnight with 132 drones, claiming 130 of them were downed or failed to reach targets.

Russia’s military said Saturday that it had downed 60 drones overnight. —Agence France-Presse