Flames and smoke rise from an oil depot in Bryansk, Bryansk Region, Russia, released on December 11, 2024. Photo credit: Social media, via Reuters

Ukraine attacked Russian border regions with missiles and drones early Wednesday (December 11, 2024), sparking a fire at an oil depot and damaging an “industrial facility”, officials said.

Two separate attacks targeted Russia’s southern Rostov region and western Bryansk region, both of which have been hit by cross-border Ukrainian fire throughout Moscow’s nearly three-year invasion.

Videos purportedly taken in the Bryansk region showed a distant fireball illuminating the night sky over an urban area, while air raid sirens could be heard in footage from the southern Rostov region.

Kyiv said it struck an oil depot being used to “supply the Russian occupation army” in the Bryansk region, while the governor of Russia’s Rostov region said a Ukrainian missile attack damaged an “industrial enterprise” in the port city of Taganrog.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed “tangible blows against Russian targets last night” that he said would help bring the war to an end.

In a post on Telegram he said Ukraine had hit “military facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as facilities of the fuel and energy complex, which is working for aggression against our state and people”.

Kyiv has ramped up strikes on Russian oil and gas facilities this year, curbing Moscow’s energy industry and causing billions of dollars’ worth of damage.

The Ukrainian army said Russia was using the facility in Bryansk as a loading point for the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key supply route for Russian oil heading to much of central Europe.

“A massive fire broke out,” Ukraine’s general staff said in a statement.

It did not comment on the strike on the Rostov region.

The Russian governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said that Ukraine had attacked a “production facility” with drones but that the blaze had since been extinguished.

Refineries and oil depots are a huge driving force behind Russia’s economy, with some facilities being given their own air defence systems to ward off attacks.

Major companies have redirected oil to sites further away from Ukraine, as some Ukrainian drone strikes have reached hundreds of kilometres into Russian territory.

Ukraine says its attacks are “fair” retaliation for Moscow’s strikes on its own energy infrastructure that have cut power to millions of people.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
| Photo Credit: AP

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is again seeking political and other support on Wednesday (October 9, 2024) from a dozen countries in southeast Europe at a summit in Croatia, whose President isn’t attending in a sign of the divided views on the war with Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy is in Dubrovnik for a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and other leaders. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has criticized Western policies regarding the war as Croatia’s political leadership is split over support for Ukraine.

“As long as I’m the President of Croatia, I will not sign for Croatian soldiers to be present in Ukraine,” Mr. Milanovic said Tuesday (October 8, 2024), asserting that “the NATO mission to train soldiers in Ukraine is nonsense.”

Mr. Zelenskyy said on X that “we will discuss international efforts to bring peace closer … our joint response with partners to security challenges, as well as cooperation on the path to the European Union and NATO.”

Kyiv is still awaiting word from Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets on Russian soil.

Some Balkan states have been providing Ukraine with short-range ammunition. At a previous summit with southeast European countries in February, Mr. Zelenskyy pleaded for more to repel Russian advances.

In Dubrovnik, Mr, Zelenskyy will sign an agreement with Croatia on further cooperation, particularly regarding humanitarian aid, demining and war crimes prosecution experience that Croatia has from its own 1991-95 war.

Besides Croatia, the summit is being attended by premiers, Presidents or Foreign Ministers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic’s government is the only one in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, although Vucic has repeatedly said that Serbia respects Ukraine’s “territorial integrity.”

Summit participants are expected to pass a declaration condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and supporting Mr. Zelenskyy’s peace effort, Ukraine’s membership in NATO and its reconstruction after the war, Croatia’s state HRT television said.

“Respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states is common for all states of southeast Europe as a basis for peace in Europe since the end of World War II,” said Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic.