Locals in Russia’s Ryazan Oblast have reported an explosion near the village of Bozhatkovo on Monday.
Ryazan Oblast is home to a number of oil refineries that have come under intensified Ukrainian attacks in recent months.
Monday’s explosion near Bozhatkovo was reported by Topor: News of Ryazan, a local Telegram channel, which provided little detail of the attack.
“First we heard a loud bang near the village of Bozhatkovo, then a fire broke out in the field,” the update says. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that six Ukrainian drones were downed over the Leningrad, Ryazan and Tula Oblasts on Monday morning.
The region’s governor Pavel Malkov said there were no casualties, adding that “the fragments of the drone fell into the yard of a private house, damaging the roof” in his Telegram update.
However, Kyiv Post’s source in Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) said the village was part of the route repurposed to supply the Russian military with automobile gasoline via Transneft, a state-controlled oil pipeline.
The source said the explosion came from the pipeline itself.
Transneft has a refinery south of Ryazan, which is within a 10 km (6 miles) radius of Bozhatkovo.
“As a result of the incident, the transportation of petroleum products to Moscow has been suspended for an indefinite period, and representatives of Transneft are calculating the losses,” the source said.
Kyiv Post cannot independently verify the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
HUR has not claimed responsibility for the attack.