Long-range drones operated by the Alpha Special Operations Center under the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Filanovsky offshore oil platform owned by Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft in the Caspian Sea, stopping production from more than 20 wells, a security official told Kyiv Post Thursday morning.
The platform is located in the northern Caspian Sea, roughly 1,150 kilometers (about 715 miles) from Ukraine and around 220 kilometers (135 miles) offshore from Russia’s Astrakhan region.
According to Kyiv Post’s source, the strike marks Ukraine’s first attack on Russian oil-extraction infrastructure in the Caspian Sea. At least four impacts on the platform were recorded.
The Filanovsky field is one of the largest discovered in Russia and in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, holding an estimated 129 million tonnes of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas. Production from the site had been exported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
“The SBU continues successful special operations against Russia’s oil and gas sector, constantly expanding their geography. The ‘cotton’ in the Caspian Sea is another reminder to Russia that all of its enterprises working for the war effort are legitimate targets – wherever they are located,” the SBU source told Kyiv Post, referring to explosions as “cottons,” a sarcastic Ukrainian term used to describe explosions on Russian territory.
A massive overnight barrage of nearly 300 Ukrainian drones struck targets across Russia early Thursday, forcing Moscow’s major airports to halt flights for seven hours and sending emergency crews scrambling to respond to falling debris, Russian officials said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 36 Ukrainian drones were shot down as they approached the capital over more than seven hours. He gave no information on casualties or damage, saying only that emergency services were working at impact sites.
Russia’s aviation agency closed all four major Moscow airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky – to arrivals and departures. At least 133 flights were canceled, delayed or diverted as the capital’s airspace temporarily shut down.