Drone crashes at oil depot facility in Russia’s Stavropol region, Governor says

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| Photo Credit: Reuters

A drone fell on an oil depot in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, local governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Friday (November 1, 2024).

It was the second suspected Ukrainian attack in consecutive days on Russian fuel and energy targets, following a lull of about seven weeks since a fuel facility in Tula was attacked on Sept. 10.

There were no casualties in the incident at the Svetlograd oil depot, Mr. Vladimirov said on Telegram.

Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russia’s security services, posted a CCTV video purportedly showing the attack on the oil depot. The video showed that at least one of several fuel tanks was swiftly engulfed by a fireball.

On Thursday, several fuel and energy facilities were targeted in a Ukrainian drone attack on the central Russian region of Bashkortostan, home to Bashneft, a major oil company controlled by Russia’s leading oil producer, Rosneft .

Bashneft operates several refineries in the region, playing a significant role in Russia’s energy infrastructure.

The attacks come days after the Financial Times reported early-stage talks between Ukraine and Russia about potentially halting airstrikes on each other’s energy facilities. The Kremlin dismissed the report.

Russia has called such attacks terrorism, while Ukraine, which stepped up the drone strikes on Russian energy facilities since the start of the year, has said it is striking back in retaliation for attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of Russia’s lower house of parliament’s defence committee, said in comments to Life media channel earlier this week, that there were no talks on halting the attacks.

“We are not going to spare anyone,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in September that Russia had knocked out the gigawatt equivalent of over half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The European Union aims to restore 2.5 GW of capacity, about 15% of the country’s needs, she said, referring to proposed EU-funded repairs.