Explosions rock Russian oil depot after drone attacks: reports

Ukraine’s latest suspected drone attack on the country’s energy infrastructure hit an oil depot in southern Russia.

Following the attack on Wednesday morning, social media channels published video footage of a fire at the Atlas oil depot in Kamensky district of the Rostov region bordering Ukraine.

The Telegram channel Baza, which is linked to Russian intelligence, reported that three tanks were burning at the site after two drones crashed there. The site is said to specialize in the storage of petroleum products and supplies them to the Russian army.

Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that four drones were shot down at around 3 a.m. and that, according to preliminary data, there were no casualties. “Emergency services are involved in fighting the fire,” his post said, “there is no danger of the fire spreading to residential buildings.”

Ukraine has increased its drone attacks on Russian territory in recent months. Energy and military infrastructure are the target of attacks for which Kyiv often does not take direct responsibility. When asked for comment, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said: Newsweek, “We do not comment on what is happening in Russia.”

Ten days after a Ukrainian drone strike in Proletarsk district on August 18, tanks at another oil depot in the region are still ablaze.

Satellite images available to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty show that the fire in the Kavkaz oil and petroleum depot, which stores oil and petroleum products for the Russian army, is continuing to spread.

According to unconfirmed reports, another attack occurred on August 23, in which firefighters were injured while trying to extinguish the fire, whose smoke reached a height of about 65 kilometers.

In another incident, Alexander Gusev, governor of the Voronezh region, which also borders Ukraine, said debris from a drone fired by Ukraine had caused a fire “near explosive objects” and led to the evacuation of two settlements, although there had been no detonation.

However, the armed forces decided to temporarily evacuate residents of two settlements. Gusev added that eight Ukrainian drones were destroyed by the region's air defenses.

According to Baza, the threat from Ukrainian drones has led to Kazan International Airport in the Tatarstan region suspending its flights and diverting planes towards the city of Samara on the Volga River.

Kazan, about 1,300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was one of four airports that suspended flights in April due to the threat of drone attacks. In June, operations were temporarily suspended for “security reasons.”