Explosions Rock Russian Oil Depot After Drone Attacks: Reports

An oil depot in southern Russia has been hit in the latest apparent Ukrainian drone strike on the country’s energy infrastructure.

Social-media channels posted video footage of a fire at the Atlas oil depot in the Kamensky District in the Rostov region bordering Ukraine following the strike on Wednesday morning.

The Baza Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia’s security services, said three tanks were burning at the site after two drones fell on the area. The site was reported to specialize in storing petroleum products, and it supplies these to the Russian army.

Vasily Golubev, Rostov’s governor, said on Telegram that, at about 3 a.m., four drones had been shot down and that, according to preliminary data, there are no casualties. “Emergency response forces are involved in extinguishing the fire,” his post said, “there is no threat of the fire spreading to residential buildings.”

Ukraine has stepped up its drone attacks on Russian territory in recent months; energy and military infrastructure is targeted in strikes, which Kyiv often does not claim direct responsibility for. When contacted for comment, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told Newsweek, “we do not comment on what is happening in Russia.”

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Rostov Oblast of Russia, 3 AM local time last night: a drone hits an oil depot setting it on fire.

Later, the Governor reported that the Rosrezerv Atlas oil storage facility in the Kamensky District had caught fire.

As of now, the fire is still burning. pic.twitter.com/SLGOHL1ucO

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) August 28, 2024

Tanks at another oil depot in the region are still ablaze 10 days after a Ukrainian drone strike in the Proletarsk District on August 18.

Satellite images obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have shown that the fire at the Kavkaz oil and petroleum storage facility, which stored oil and petroleum products for the Russian army, is continuing to spread.

Unconfirmed reports say that another strike was carried out on August 23 and firefighters have been injured trying to extinguish the fire, which has pumped smoke nearly 40 miles into the sky.

In a separate incident, Alexander Gusev, the governor of Voronezh, a region that also borders Ukraine, said debris from a Ukraine-launched drone caused a fire “near explosive objects” and the evacuation of two settlements, although there was no detonation.

However, services decided to temporarily evacuate the residents of two settlements. Gusev added that eight Ukrainian drones had been destroyed by the region’s air defense.

The threat posed by Ukraine’s drones has caused Kazan International Airport in the Tatarstan region to suspend flights, according to Baza, with planes being directed to the city of Samara on the River Volga.

Kazan, which is around 800 miles from the Ukrainian border, was among four airports that suspended flights due to the threat of drone strikes in April. In June, it temporarily shut down due to “security reasons.”