Flew 1500 kilometers?
Drone hits Russian oil facility far from the front
May 9, 2024, 6:22 p.m
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While Putin is celebrating “Victory Day” in Moscow, a refinery in the city of Salawat is hit by a drone. The place is hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine. The authorities are also reporting a drone attack on the Russian Black Sea coast.
In the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, an oil processing, petrochemical and fertilizer complex was attacked by a drone, according to authorities there. The Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat plant is working as usual, said the head of the republic, Radij Khabirov, on Telegram. The Russian state news agency RIA, citing emergency services, reported that the drone attack damaged the building of the pumping station of the industrial complex, one of the largest in Russia. Nobody was injured.
A Ukrainian intelligence officer confirmed the drone attack a short time later. Defense circles in Kiev said the attack achieved a “record range”. The drone flew a total of 1,500 kilometers. The attack on the refinery in the city of Salawat was carried out by the Ukrainian secret service SBU.
Salawat is about 1,400 kilometers away as the crow flies from the nearest possible launch sites in Ukraine. The country, which has been at war with Russia for more than two years, has significantly increased the range of its drones in recent months. There have already been a number of attacks against oil facilities deep in the Russian hinterland.
In another fire in an oil storage facility near the city of Anapa on Russia’s Black Sea coast, Russian authorities assumed a Ukrainian drone attack. About six incoming combat drones were intercepted at night, but some of them fell on the fuel farm. A fire broke out and was brought under control around midday. Several tanks were damaged. From Anapa the distance to Ukrainian-controlled territory is about 370 kilometers.
The flight of Ukrainian drones was also reported from other Russian regions last night. For its part, Russia attacked the south of Ukraine around Odessa with 20 Iranian-made combat drones, as the Ukrainian Air Force announced. 17 of them were intercepted.