A drone crashed into the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on Friday, injuring at least two people and causing a small fire, local authorities said.
Drones have been extensively used by both the Russians and the Ukrainian forces in the ongoing conflict. Infact, initially when the Russian mechanized formations had headed for Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, drones were brought into service by the Ukrainians too stall the tanks. The strategy had paid huge dividends.
Ukraine has been systematically targeting Russian energy infrastructure to try to disrupt Russia’s economy and its ability to fund its military effort. Russian efforts at targeting Ukrainian infrastructure has been equally focused. Ukraine has a substantial dearth of power generation capability, as a result.
The Ilsky refinery is one of the main fuel producers in southern Russia, with a capacity to refine 6.6 million tonnes of crude (132,000 barrels per day) a year. However, Russian resources are immense, and the Ukrainian attack is unlikely to make a visible dent.
The head of the local district, Andrei Doroshevsky, said on the Telegram messaging app that the fire has been put out.
“This night, the civilian infrastructure of our region was subjected to a massive attack by the criminal Kyiv regime,” he said, adding that a drone damaged administrative buildings at the Ilsky oil refinery. If the message is correct, the refinery’s critical infrastructure seems to hold good.
The plant had already been hit by drones in February.
Separately, regional authorities said on Friday that open fires were doused at oil depots in Tambov and Rostov regions.
Team Bharatshakti
(With Inputs from Reuters)
